Prince of Denseness
by SpiritPrincess101
Summary: Ryoma's known as the prince of tennis, but if you ask Sakuno Ryuuzaki, she'd say he's not the prince of tennis, but the prince of denseness. Even the most patient and timid get fed up eventually. Ryosaku. RxR!
1. Prologue

**Prologue:**

"Next! Singles, Ryoma vs. Sakuno!" yelled Coach Ryuzaki.

"_What?_" the regulars were shocked. How could Coach put a rookie like Sakuno against a tennis prodigy like Ryoma? "Ryuzaki-sensei...are you sure?"

Murmurs buzzed throughout the courts. The freshmen trio gaped openmouthed at their classmate, who simply stood there with a carefully emotionless expression.

"Silence!" she bellowed. Everyone stopped and stared at the coach, a smirk playing on her lips. "Wait and see."

* * *

A/N: Hey all! So this isn't my story-a schoolmate of mine wrote this over the past year, but she doesn't have an account/wants to stay anonymous, so I'm uploading it for her. Please do review/favorite when you can! We appreciate it! ~hime-chan


	2. Chapter 1

FLASHBACK...

**Chapter 1: At the Beginning**

"OK, girls, we're done for today. You girls have had a great season and I'm really proud of you. You've all improved a lot. I'm very honored to have been your coach this year, and I hope every single one of you joins the team again next year."

Sakuno and all of her teammates put their hands in the center of the circle and cheered for the last time that year. Looking around, she felt a rush of affection for the team and a slight sadness for the season's ending.

However, she would have felt much, much better if she had actually played for her school at at least one tournament. Match after match she had sat on the bench, watching her teammates pull off service aces and smashes and drive volleys. It was always fun to watch your friends win, but she felt a little left out when they were exclaiming over trophies and "amazing shots."

"I wish I wasn't so bad at tennis," she thought sadly. "Everyone here knows I suck. Ryoma-kun knows it too. Maybe that's why he doesn't even know I exist."

Her best friend, Tomoka, sprinted over to her. "Hey, Sakuno-chan! What's up? Why are you so sad? I mean I know the season's over and all, but we always have next year!"

"No, Tomo-chan. I just wish I could have played more. I haven't played in a single game."

"Oh, right." Tomoka was a bit unsure of what to say to that. "Don't worry, I suck too. But why do you care so much?"

Sakuno gave her friend a look which clearly asked, "Isn't it obvious?"

Comprehension dawned on Tomoka. "Oh! Whoops, silly me." she giggled. "Why don't you just ask Coach? She'll definitely give you some help in improving."

"Yeah, I probably should. Someone with as little talent as me definitely needs some extra help. Jaa ne, Tomo-chan!" At this, Tomoka waved and sprinted off.

Sakuno walked up to her coach, also known as her grandmother. "Obaa-chan, I really want to be a regular next season. Like actually _play_, and not just sit on the bench. I know I have to practice more, but what do I need to work on, in particular?"

Coach Ryuzaki was silent for a moment. Sakuno waited, deciding that she was ready for the reply no matter how harsh.

"You need to improve your form, mainly. Your timing isn't bad when you do a smash or a volley, but you really need to improve your power. Sakuno-chan, you have potential, and you love the sport. But you need to put in much more effort to play as a regular."

Sakuno nodded. "Obaa-chan, where can I get more practice? I like playing with you, but I want to become a regular next year."

Coach Ryuzaki smiled at her granddaughter's graceful acceptance of her criticism. She half-expected her to burst into tears and run off, so this was a pleasant surprise. "Shunao Tennis Club is an excellent one to practice at. They meet three times a week for two hours each, so it's not much time commitment either. And you will get many opportunities to play at tournaments with this club."

"Arigato, Obaa-chan!" Sakuno gave her grandmother a smile and went over to her bag to put her racket away. Zipping up her bag and pulling out her water bottle, she sat down on the ground and took a sip.

"Oi. Ryuzaki."

Sakuno choked, spitting out the water and coughing. Ryoma just stood by, looking at her. When her coughing ceased, he asked nonchalantly, "You ok?"

She blushed, "Yeah." _Ryoma-kun asking about my well-being? Wow..._

"R-ryoma-kun, why are you here?"

He shrugged. "I was bored."

Sakuno hid a smile, turning away before it surfaced onto her face. _Ryoma-kun will never change_...


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Call Me Maybe**

"All right, start!" the coach blew her whistle, signaling the beginning of the exercise.

Sakuno began sprinting around the field next to the court, praying all the while that she would not trip over herself. As she made onto her third lap around, out of the corner of her eye she saw a familiar figure running behind her, slowly catching up. Twisting around to get a better look, she almost _did_trip over herself in surprise. "Ann-chan?"

"Yo." Ann gave her a cheeky grin, waving happily despite the sweat running down her face.

Sakuno grinned back. "What are you doing here?" she asked, half pleased and half surprised.

"You forget that I play tennis too?" Ann feigned offense at Sakuno's question, laughing when the other attempted to apologize. "Just kidding." she winked.

The two continued to run their 20 laps, all the while catching up and exchanging the latest gossip about their respective schools. Sakuno especially was very happy. She finally had a friend here, with whom she could rally and stuff. Thank goodness.

After practice, Ann jogged over to Sakuno. "Hey, Sakuno-chan! I don't have your cell number. Can we trade?"

"Sure." Sakuno smiled and pulled out her phone, and the two traded numbers. "Call me maybe?"

Ann burst out laughing. "Yeah!"

Sakuno giggled with her new friend. "Awesome. Jaa ne!"

* * *

(A few weeks later)

On Sunday afternoon, Sakuno sighed happily. The club was helping so much-she had already practically perfected her smash and volley, and the coach had even told her that she had great timing and a really good eye for the ball. Her obaa-chan had even commented that at this rate of improvement, Sakuno would be eligible for a regular next season.

_Tennis is so much fun! I don't know what I would do without it..._she thought.

It was all thanks to Ryoma, anyway, that she even joined. She owed him a ton.

_I should thank him later. Now, tennis._

Picking up her phone, she dialed a few numbers and put the phone to her ear. "Hey, Ann-chan!"

"Hey, Sakuno-chan! What's up?"

"I'm bored. Are you busy? You wanna come over and play some tennis?"

"Yeah, sure. This is the worst weekend ever. I'll be there in ten."

"Got it. Jaa ne!" She hung up and changed into her tennis clothes, picked up her racket and walked out to the court. Hitting balls against the wall, she waited for her tennis buddy.

"Sakuno?" Ann showed up a few minutes later. Sakuno ran over and hugged her.

"An-chan! It's good to see you again!"

"You too, but it's been what, twelve hours?" Ann laughed.

"I guess. Silly me. Wanna play?"

"Sure. I call first serve!"

"Fine, you cheater."

"Hey!"

Playfully teasing one another, the two girls began a friendly rally, praising one another for good shots and laughing at awkward ones. Little did they know, however, that they had a one-man audience. Or should we say, one-unbelievably-short-freshman audience.

Ryoma had decided to go out to fill up his Ponta supply for the week, and was intrigued by the sound of pounding tennis balls.

_Huh? Tennis balls here? _He followed the noise to a fence. Hiding himself behind a tree right in front of the fence, he noticed the game between Ann and Sakuno.

Sakuno had just performed a near-perfect drive volley, scoring a point and earning a smile from Ann. Clearly, she had improved. A _lot._But her season was over...how did she get so good so quickly?

Without thinking, Ryoma stepped out from behind the tree. "Ne, Ryuzaki?"

Upon hearing that familiar voice that always made her nervous, Sakuno didn't pay attention to Ann's smash, which hit her in smack in the face. Blushing furiously, she rubbed the affected spot. "Ryoma-kun! What are you doing here?"

"That was a good volley." Ryoma replied, to which Sakuno reddened further and Ann hid a laugh with a discreet cough. "You've...improved. How?"

Ann rolled her eyes as she ran to stand by Sakuno. _Direct as always_.

"I...ano...I..." In her joy at Ryoma's compliment, Sakuno could find no words to say. Ann rolled her eyes and replied on Sakuno's behalf.

"Oh, we've been practicing at Shunao Tennis Club. She _has_gotten good, hasn't she?" Ann laughed at the frown Sakuno gave her. Ryoma, however, noticed nothing and simply nodded. (A/N: Idiot...)

"Where do they practice?"

"Oh, at our school, Fudomine." Ann replied.

"When do you guys practice?"

_Dude, what's with all the questions? _"Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from five to seven."

"It's for guys and girls, right?"

"Yes..." Ann was starting to get a little wary.

"Cool. I should come by sometime. Jaa ne, Ryuzaki, Tachibana." Ryoma waved and disappeared.

"D-did he really just praise my volley? Or was I imagining it?" Sakuno had only just broken from her frozen-from-Ryoma's-praise state.

"Yup, it really happened." Her friend slapped her on the back playfully. "Lucky you! Shall we continue?" Ann held up her racket.

"Hai!"


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Futarikiri (no Meari- Kurisumasu) [Merry Christmas with Just the Two of Us]**

Ryoma fidgeted as the final bell rang, lazily raising his head and glancing sleepily at the classroom's clock. "Uu..." he grumbled, picking himself up and slowly packing up his things when the loud bell woke him up suddenly. Walking out the door, he headed in the courts' directions, only to halt in realization.

He paused for a second and then turned on his heel, walking in the opposite direction. Fuji and Momoshiro, who had caught sight of him, raised their hands in greeting, but were surprised as their favorite first year headed the other way.

"Fuji-senpai?" Momo said slowly, in confusion. "Do mine eyes deceive me, or is Echizen going to neither the courts nor his house?"

"Hmmm?" Fuji looked over to where Momoshiro was pointing. "Huh...that's weird..."

"I wonder where he's going?" Momo asked.

"What do you mean, you wonder?" Fuji gave him a smile and began retracing Ryoma's footsteps.

Momo understood. "Oh, right." He turned and sprinted in Fuji's direction.

* * *

A couple minutes later, the two creepiest tennis regulars had followed Ryoma all the way to Fudomine's gym. "Ne, what's he doing in Fudomine?" Fuji asked.

"How would I know? He's heading for the tennis courts...let's follow him." They discreetly followed Ryoma, only to find a bunch of girls and guys warming up with one another. Ryoma was saying something to the coach, who nodded and told him to go warm up with the others. Taking out his racket, Ryoma headed over to where Sanada was standing so that he could have a rally with him.

"A tennis club?" Momo asked. "Why would he come here? He prefers to practice by himself, doesn't he?"

"No, Momo. _That's _why." Fuji smiled, pointing to his right. Momo glanced over to where Fuji was pointing, and his face broke out into a huge grin when he saw Sakuno and Ann rallying with one another.

"Oh!" Momoshiro laughed. "So young, so young..."

"Why don't we, along with the rest of the team, join as well?" Fuji continued, smile in place. "After all, Echizen would be _so _lonely without us."

Momoshiro understood in a flash. "Hell yeah! Let's call the others!" Whipping out their phones, they quickly explained the situation to all the other regulars, who made it over to Fudomine in less than 10 minutes.

"Ochibi!" Kikumaru bounced over to Ryoma and choked him in a hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Kikumaru-senpai...can't...breathe..." Ryoma gasped as he tried in vain to escape his senpai's crushing embrace.

"Hello, Echizen." Oishi and Kawamura, and Kaidoh came out of nowhere. Slightly surprised at the appearance of _all _the regulars, he tugged his cap down.

"Echizen, what are you doing here?" asked Oishi.

"That's what I wanted to ask. I thought I'd join this club. What are _you _doing here?"

"Coach Ryuzaki suggested this place, and since Eiji started bouncing all over the place in hyper joy, I ended up coming too." he shrugged, grinning wryly.

"Oi! Boys over there! Are you joining or not?"

"Ah-hai!" Oishi called back hurriedly, tugging Kikumaru by the elbow. "Eiji, come on, move it!"

"All right, all right, Oishi, jeezus." Kikumaru sighed at his doubles' partner.

Sakuno turned around, sure that she had recognized those voice. Noticing Oishi and every other regular standing not far away, she flushed slightly. And seeing Ryoma...her face colored to the point where it resembled a tomato.

"Hey, what's up?" An asked, noticing Sakuno's blush. She turned, and noticing Momoshiro, who was giving her a grin, she flushed as well.

"Ann-chan...why'd you blush when you saw Momo-senpai?" Sakuno asked innocently, before something struck her, and she grinned mischievously. "Ooh~~" she cooed teasingly.

Ann slapped her lightly. "Oh, shut up. As if you don't have a crush on Echizen..."

"Hey!-"

"Girls! Get over here!"

"AH HAI!" the two of them grinned at each other, running over to their coach. And the day began...

* * *

"All right!" the assistant coach clapped her hands. "Practice is over for today! First years, pick up tennis balls. Second years, bring them in. Third years, go change!"

Everyone began moving towards their assigned duties except for Ryoma and Sakuno. The latter went over to the coach, asking timidly, "Could I stay a bit longer here to practice?"

The coach looked at her, to Ryoma, and back to her. A grin slowly spread across her face as she grasped the situation. "All right, kiddo," she said, patting Sakuno's head, "go for it."

Sakuno beamed widely. "Hai! Thank you very much!"

She bounded away back to Ryoma, whose eyes, the coach noticed, had not left Sakuno while she and the younger girl were talking. _Wow, that's a first,_ she smiled._ I'll leave these two alone now._

"Ryoma-kun! Are you staying back, too?" Sakuno asked, blushing slightly.

"Yeah, I have nothing better to do." Ryoma replied with a bored expression on his face.

Sakuno felt her stomach drop a bit as she served the ball to him. _I thought he wouldn't be so bored if he was practicing with me,_ she thought sadly. _Clearly he's only here because the senpai-tachi had to leave._

Ryoma hit a drop shot back almost immediately. Sakuno, not expecting this, suddenly had to sprint to the front and managed to hit the ball back over the net. He parried her ball back easily, and she hit the ball in a drive volley, hoping to score a point. Her attempts were futile, and he once again hit it back with ease.

"Mada mada da ne!" Ryoma said. "You're not even paying attention."

_I'm so bad at this! I can't even score a point!_Sakuno focused on the next ball, which curved upward. She leaped and smashed it. This time, he had a bit of a hard time going for the ball, but still hit it back.

That time, the ball had a weird spin on it. Frustrated with herself beyond measure, Sakuno blindly hit the ball, not paying any attention to where it was traveling. The ball, not even going into the court, hit one of the bushes surrounding it.

"Ite!" the bush suddenly yelped.

_What? _Sakuno thought, bewildered. _A talking bush?_

"Ryuzaki?" Ryoma called her. Clearly, she wasn't the only one who was puzzled. "Did you hear that?"

"The bush...it just talked..." Sakuno pointed warily at said bush.

"Talking bushes don't exist, Ryuzaki." he replied dryly.

"Hai..." She threw the ball up again, and served it straight at the bush. This time, it didn't scream, but it rustled more than the average bush. "That's weird...I think someone's in there..."

"Yeah, probably the senpai-tachi. They never leave me alone." Ryoma rolled his eyes, smiling slightly. He pulled his cap down.

_Mind your own business,_Sakuno scolded the senpais playfully in her mind. Suddenly, a brilliant idea struck her.

"Ryoma-kun, do you have an extra Ponta on you?"

"Sure." He pulled one out of his bag and tossed it to her. For once, she actually caught it. "Why, you thirsty?"

"You'll see..." she smiled and shook the Ponta can until she could feel it frothing through the metal. Suddenly, she threw it into the bush.

"Ryuzaki, what are you-"

Before Ryoma could finish his question, a fairly loud explosion occurred right where Sakuno had thrown the Ponta.

-BOOM-

The originally dry bush was now well soaked, and a very wet and angry Momoshiro and Fuji stood up (well, Momoshiro was pretty pissed, but Fuji was still smiling. He had managed to escape the explosion with his amazing reflexes. Besides, Fuji Syusuke just doesn't get caught in embarrassing situations like that).

"What was that for?" Momoshiro glared at Sakuno, who was practically rolling on the floor laughing, as was Ryoma. "Momo-senpai, mada mada da ne..."

"BURNING!" Another voice suddenly came from the bushes.

"Baka, Kawamura-senpai, there isn't even a racket near you! What the-"

"No! My eyes! They're BURNING!" Kawamura suddenly stood up and rubbed his eyes, clearly in pain from the Ponta which had probably exploded right in front of him.

At this, Sakuno and Ryoma went from "laughing out loud" to "laughing their heads off."

"Oh my God...Kawamura-senpai...burning..." Sakuno gasped between fits of giggles.

"Ryuzaki...you're amazing" Ryoma chuckled loudly, unable to restrain his own laughter.

Sakuno blushed mid-laugh. _Amazing? He said what I did was amazing! Maybe he _does_ appreciate me!__ (_AN: Sakuno-chan, I don't think that's what he meant...)

"Ari-arigato..."

"Nice job, Sakuno-chan." Fuji smiled.

Sakuno blushed even harder. "Thank you, Fuji-senpai!"

Ryoma, who had suddenly stopped laughing, noted her face reddening slightly at Fuji's compliment and his familiar address of her; his eyes narrowed, but his facial expression shifted back to its usual bored look before anyone would notice. This minor change, however, did not go unnoticed by the ever-watchful tensai. _So he does care. Interesting,_Fuji noted with a sly smile.

Sakuno turned to the now sheepishly grinning regulars. "Senpai-tachi, could you _please_ go now? I'd like to practice, if you would _kindly_oblige." Despite some of the regulars being unbelievably dense, even the most thickheaded could hear the pointed message in her request. Immediately, most of them dashed off back home...except for Fuji, who stood there smiling.

Ryoma did not like the look on the tensai's face. "Senpai...why are you smiling like that?"

"Like what?" Fuji played dumb.

"Like what?" Sakuno echoed earnestly. Ryoma resisted the urge to facepalm.

"Never mind. Fuji-senpai, leave."

"Fine, fine." Fuji was gone within the next minute.

"Ryuzaki, I need to leave," Ryoma told her after about twenty minutes of rallying.

"H-hai...but I need to practice more...could you meet me here tomorrow at four?" Sakuno asked rather timidly.

"Yeah, you need to work on your smash." Ryoma replied.

Sakuno's heart soared. Even if he did comment on her smash, he had agreed to help her. "Tomorrow at four, then?"

"Sure." He put his racket away and zipped up his bag. "Jaa ne." He raised a hand in parting and walked out.

"Bye!" Sakuno waved and packed up to go home.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Don't Forget**

_Did you forget that I was even alive?_

_Did you forget everything we ever had?_

_Did you forget, did you forget about me?_

_Did you regret ever standing by my side?_

_Did you forget what we were feeling inside?_

_Now I'm left to forget about us..._

The next day, phone rang in the Echizen residence at around 2:30. Pulling himself out of bed (A/N: yeah, yeah, he sleeps in on the weekends, OK? It's _Ryoma _we're talking about. Come on.), Ryoma trudged over to the phone and picked it up. "Who is it?" he asked in a groggy voice.

"Echizen, it's Fuji. So there's a game at the street courts today at 3:30. You wanna go?"

"Yeah, sure. I'll be there in a few." Hanging up, Ryoma toddled off back to his room and got dressed, still yawning all the while.

* * *

"Ryoma-kun..." Sakuno paced back and forth on the courts, looking at her watch for the billionth time in the past half hour. She looked worriedly at her cell phone, which was sitting silently on the bench next to her. "Did he get in an accident or something?"

Horrifying scenarios began to play through her mind, her imagination taking over her reason (or lack thereof). _Oh no!_ she panicked. _What if he got stuck in a car crash? Or got hit by a train? Or was kidnapped? Or..._the possibilities were endless, and the more she thought about it, the more Sakuno had to resist screaming in fear and frustration of not knowing.

"Argh!" Sakuno mussed up her hair, finally whipping out her phone from her pocket. She punched in a number (yes, she had him on speed dial) and put it to her ear. _Pick up, please_, _Ryoma-kun_.

Ryoma's phone buzzed on the bench. He looked at it, the caller ID simply reading "private caller." He reached for it, and picking it up, pressed the talk button. "Hello?"

Before she could reply, however, she heard another voice. "Oi, Echizen, get over here! The view's better here!"

Sakuno froze. _Momo...senpai?_But she could not bring herself to take away the phone from her ear, despite the heavy feeling of dread in her stomach.

Ryoma's hand dropped to his side as he walked over back to the upperclassmen. "What?" he asked without much interest, the ongoing phone call forgotten.

Sakuno strained to hear the voices which had become much quieter. She picked up the familiar noise of tennis balls striking the rackets and the ground. _What on earth...?_She listened harder.

"...Echizen, look at that guy. He's pretty good, no? "

"Mada mada da ne..."

_No._

_He wouldn't!_

_But he did..._

At this point she was sure she knew what was going on.

Sakuno gripped her cell phone tightly, her knuckles beginning to turn a horrid white. The blood drained from her face, and she held onto the bench for support. _Fuji-senpai. Momo-senpai. Ryoma-kun._

_He forgot to come._

_No, he's at a tennis game, so he probably didn't even want to come._

_He stood me up._

As the moments went by, this message sunk in deeper and deeper. And it is a universally known fact that one's feeling of misery increases at an alarming rate as does the "sinking in".

Sakuno was too shocked even to cry. _I can't believe he would do that..._

"If you'd like to make a call, please hang up and try again. If..." Sakuno barely heard the operator's message. She let out a mirthless laugh. "Try again? No way. I am never going to try again. Ever."

_I've been here for an hour and a half. There's no point in staying here anymore. I'm leaving._

Picking up her racket and cell phone, Sakuno blindly ran right out of the club court and back home, not even looking back.

Somehow, Sakuno had not shed a single tear over her way home. Only when she had collapsed on her bed did the tears come freely.

At least the tears prevented her from thinking too much. Thinking was a very dangerous thing to do now. But every now and then the flow would cease, and she would recollect the situation, and they would start again.

_What have I ever done to deserve this?_ Sakuno thought, anguished. _I've never been treated like this before! I should have known that I don't mean anything to him. All he cares about is tennis, tennis, tennis._

_Tennis._

Picking up her racket, Sakuno went out to her backyard and unconsciously picked up the tennis ball that she had drawn Ryoma's face on. Throwing it aside, she picked up another drawing-free ball and made a half-hearted swing at it towards the wall. Needless to say, she missed. _Fault..._

Picking it up again, she tossed it and swung at it again, but this time her shot lacked power and sunk near the base of the wall.

_I'm so bad at this._

Another shot. This time, it hit the wall and bounced off in a random direction.

_He didn't even care enough to come._

Tears welled up in her eyes again as she positioned herself for another shot, but she instantly rammed her racket into the ball to avoid another waterfall of tears.

_I don't mean anything to him._

Another hit.

_He stood me up._

A stronger hit.

_He. Stood. Me. Up._

An even stronger hit.

_He lied to me._

The shot she hit was so hard that it nearly collided with her face when it bounced back. She moved out of the way just in time. And Sakuno suddenly felt a sense of indignation.

_He made me waste my time there!_

Another extraordinarily powerful shot. Not that he would have known that she had improved, because he hadn't bothered to show up. She scoffed. How appropriate.

On that thought, Sakuno searched around for the ball with his face drawn on it. Throwing it upwards, she let out a cry.

"Why?" she yelled. "Why did you do this to me? Take this, you baka!"

But the racket never came down. It hung in the air, unmoving, as Sakuno's arm only shook, her head drooping down as her entire body shook with the tears.

"Why'd you stop?" Tachibana Ann suddenly appeared, frowning a little. "Finish that shot!"

Sakuno's head snapped up and turned around slowly, her eyes wide. "An...chan?"

"It's not like you to be so indecisive!" Ann scolded Sakuno. "Hit the ball already!"

Sakuno shook her head; her racket dropped to her side. "I can't."

"Do you love him that much?"

"I don't know. I don't know. I don't know." Sakuno just kept shaking her head, voice trembling. She crouched on the ground, her hands on her face as she tried to hold in the tears.

"Oh..." Ann walked over, crouching down next to her best friend. She rubbed Sakuno's back, hushing her with soothing coos. "Shh...it's ok. Just let it all out."

Sakuno didn't say anything for a few minutes, just sobbing into An's shoulder.

"Sh..."

Her sobs eventually diminished to hiccups. "Hic. I had a practice-hic-with him, but-hic-he didn't come. Hic. He went to a different-hic-tennis game instead. Hic. Hic. I think he didn't-hic-even want to come. He-hic-missed it on purpose."

Ann frowned. _Echizen, you have got to be the densest and most retarded person I've ever laid eyes on._"Sakuno, look at me. I don't understand why you're so sad."

Sakuno looked at Ann like she had lost it. "What do you mean?"

"I said, why are you sad?" Ann flicked Sakuno on the forehead. The latter covered her forehead after uttering a small cry of "Ow! What was that for?"

"There's no reason to cry over him!" Ann had to stop herself from yelling. She was frustrated at _Ryoma_, not Sakuno. _Patience, patience_, she told herself. "If anything, you should be mad at him. Why should you cry over him? You didn't do anything wrong!"

Sakuno looked away. How could she respond to that?

Ann lost her patience just a little. "Pick up the ball."

Sakuno picked up a random tennis ball. Ann took it out of her hands. "No, not this one. The one with his face on it." Sakuno obeyed.

"Throw it up."

She did.

"Hit it as hard as you possibly can!"

Sakuno swung blindly at the ball. Her racket collided with it and sent it streaking through the air to the wall, off of which it bounced and flew back to her. Ann caught it.

"That's how _he _should be hit."

"Wh-what?"

Ann swiftly moved so that she was standing right in front of Sakuno. She grabbed her by the shoulders and literally shook her. "He stood you up! He cheated you! Don't you want to hit him so hard he begs for mercy?"

"H-huh?"

Ann was ready to burst, but she tried to hold down her indignation. "Next time we go to club, if you get a match against him, HIT HIM! I literally mean _aim _for him! Aim for his face, his solar plexis, anything! Well, preferably not his solar plexis because that would kill him and you would go to jail. His face is good enough. But hit him!"

Sakuno stared at Ann like she had gone crazy. "But...that will hurt him!"

"_That's the point!_Sakuno, protect your dignity and your self-respect! He treated you so badly! You should get back at him! Did he make you feel horrible?"

"Un..."

"Did you feel like you wanted to cry your heart out?"

"Un..."

"Now, do you feel like you want to get back at him? Make him feel the pain you felt! No one deserves it more than he does!"

Ann's message began to sink in. Sakuno's eyes flashed with a spark of anger which An had never seen before. "Let's have a practice match. I want to be ready for tomorrow."

In all honesty, Ann was a bit taken aback by the viciousness hiding behind that usually sweet, rather naive smile which etched its way onto Sakuno's face. Nevertheless, she was glad Sakuno had made up her mind. "That's the spirit!" Ann cheered, and the two proceeded to play a match, commenting kindly on each other's tennis styles and plays. Unbeknownst to them, they were being watched by Sakuno's grandmother.

"So, Sakuno wants to play Echizen tomorrow?" she smiled. "I think that can be arranged..."


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Somebody That I Used to Know**

_But you didn't have to cut me off_

_Make it out like it never happened and we were nothing_

_But I don't even need your love_

_But you treat me like a stranger and that feels so rough_

BACK TO THE PRESENT

"Next! Ryoma vs. Sakuno!" yelled Coach Ryuzaki.

"_What?_" the regulars were shocked. How could Coach put a rookie like Sakuno against a tennis prodigy like Ryoma? "Coach Ryuzaki...are you sure?"

Murmurs buzzed throughout the courts. The freshmen trio gaped openmouthed at their classmate, who simply stood there with a carefully emotionless expression.

"Silence!" she yelled. Everyone stopped and stared at the coach, who had a smirk playing on her lips. "Wait and see." She winked at her granddaughter, who gravely nodded back, and who then turned to Ann, who gave Sakuno an encouraging smile.

Ryoma and Sakuno picked up their rackets and walked onto the court. Ryoma looked at Sakuno from under his cap. Her face was pale because she hadn't slept well, but the softness of her chocolate brown orbs was gone, and her eyes held a fiery emotion he couldn't describe. That look in her eyes was...startling. Scary, even.

"Ryuzaki, you can have the first serve." said Ryoma.

"I thank you kindly." said Sakuno, mimicking Ryoma's normal nonchalant tone.

Normally, she would have stuttered and said something like, "Th-thank you, Ryoma-kun!" and blushed. Now, however, not a spot of pink appeared on her uncommonly pale cheeks, which surprised him.

She threw the ball up and served it straight at him.

Ryoma backed up in surprise. _Whoa, not a bad serve at all. She's gotten a lot stronger. _He parried it back.

Sakuno slammed her racket into the ball, again right at his face. Again he returned it. _Well, that was an uncanny coincidence._

The third time, the ball ricocheted off her racket and traveled with increasing speed right to where his nose was. In an attempt to protect his face he held the racket in front of it and managed to volley it back, giving him the point.

Though the coach called out "Love-15!" as clear as day, Ryoma just stood there, contemplating. _Hold on a minute, _he thought, _is it really just a coincidence that her ball is always heading towards my _face_?_

He looked her over, and his gaze halted at her grip on the racket. _Oh, there's the problem. _"Ryuzaki, your grip has gotten worse. Your balls are going for my face."

She glanced briefly at said grip and shrugged, clearly dismissing Ryoma's comment. She replied in a hard tone, "Ah, Echizen-san, my mistake."

_Echizen-san?_ Everyone on the courts could not believe their ears. _What happened to Ryoma-kun?_

But Sakuno gave them no time to think. "By the way," she asked Ryoma, now jump serving, "What were you up to yesterday?"

_What the hell? Why would she ask me that? _"Momo-senpai and Fuji-senpai went with me to see a match. Why do you care?"

"Oh, nothing. I take it that the match was incredibly important, Echizen-san."

_What's with the "Echizen-san"?_ Ryoma thought again."No, not really," he said while easily rallying back, slightly confused. "It was just entertaining to some extent. Those kids were really mada mada da ne."

"Oh? That's wonderful. I'm glad you had so much fun. You don't regret missing out on any other appointments, surely."

Ryoma faltered. "Other...appointments?..._Oh, crap!"_ he swore, missing the ball.

"15-all!" the coach yelled.

At this point the senpai had noticed something wrong-hesitation in Ryoma's movements as well as the pure deadliness of Sakuno's shots. Even for an improved rookie, those shots had the power of rage and frustration poured and sealed into them. They could only ponder on what had infuriated their sweet little "Sakuno-chan" so much.

"It seems like you have regained your memory now! How kind of you." said Sakuno in a mockingly sweet voice.

Ryoma opened his mouth in attempt to defend himself, but Sakuno was tired of hearing excuses.

"If you didn't want to come, you could have just told me. Then I wouldn't have had to wait there for an hour and a half."

"Ryuzaki, listen to-"

"NO!" Sakuno yelled. "There are no second chances this time. You always,"

_(smash)_

"lead me on-"

_(pok)_ (A/N: Note that this is the sound of a tennis ball being hit.)

"and then treat me liketrash!"

_(pok)_

"I know you don't care about me,"

_(pok)_

"so drop the act already!" With a cry, she leaped and smashed the next ball with all her might.

Ryoma froze before almost falling backwards due to the impact. He felt as if he had been slapped, both by her words and by the tennis ball that she had just smashed directly into his face.

Sakuno panted and glared at Ryoma, and all the regulars stared at her, openmouthed. What the hell just happened?

Suddenly, the ringing of Sakuno's cell phone buzzed through an unsettling silence on the court. A still shocked Ryoma and the alarmed regulars jumped at the startling interruption.

Tearing her gaze from Ryoma, Sakuno pulled her phone out of her pocket and flipped it open. "Hello?..._What?_" Her face breaking into an joyous smile, her eyes shone as she continued speaking. "Oh my God! Where are you now?...Turn around?" She turned around, staring at the doorway.

Ryoma, pushed by curiosity, turned to see who she was so excited about. Much to his surprise, his captain Tezuka Kunimitsu stood right where Sakuno was staring, shutting off his phone.

What happened next, right when he was about to say hello, surprised him even more.  
Sakuno suddenly sprinted over to where Tezuka stood and flung her arms around him, exclaiming, "Tezuka-senpai! You're back! I missed you so much!"

"Hello there, Sakuno-san." Tezuka greeted her, kissing the top of her head. "I missed you too. Have you been doing well?"

"I'm fine. How was Germany? Is your arm better?"

"Germany was amazing. And my arm's completely back to normal, thank you for asking." Tezuka smiled and Sakuno cautiously patted his arm like it could possibly break with a single touch.

_How does he know her so well? He's even calling her by her first name! _Ryoma stared at Sakuno's unexpected greeting of his captain in shock, becoming increasingly furious as he noticed her excitement at seeing Tezuka.

_What's wrong with me? _he thought. He clenched his fists in rage as he watched Tezuka pull something out of his pocket and give it to Sakuno, who laughed in delight and gave him another hug. Unable to bear it anymore, he threw down his racket and walked right out of the club. Every other regular watched, stunned at the complete switch of emotions-the normally nonchalant Ryoma's sudden anger and the formerly angry Sakuno's sudden happiness.

Tezuka noticed Ryoma's storming off and gave Sakuno a questioning look. "What's up with Echizen? Did someone replace his Ponta with Inui Juice?"

Sakuno giggled uneasily, hesitating before she replied. "Well...I...sort of...y-yelled at him."

"What? What happened?" Tezuka's brows furrowed in concern.

"Well, he said he would meet me to help me with tennis yesterday but never bothered to show up." Angry though she was, Sakuno began to feel a little guilty for being so hard on Ryoma. "M-maybe I should go apologize..." She made a movement to go, but Tezuka stopped her, holding her back by the elbow.

"No, he was in the wrong. Wait until he comes around. There is no reason for you to apologize." Sakuno nodded uncertainly. "I guess so..."

Tezuka patted her on the head reassuringly. "Well, I need to go and tell my parents I'm home. I will see you tomorrow, Sakuno-san."

"Mata ashita, Tezuka-senpai!" Sakuno skipped back to her grandmother, ready to play another round of singles, her mood much improved. The still silenced regular members looked at each other, unsure of what emotions to display on their faces.

Surprise? No words to express it. Confusion? That was the tame way of describing it. Curious enough to kill the cat? Oh, you bet.

Practice ended ten minutes later, and the regulars huddled together, Momoshiro and Fuji taking on the role of leaders. "OK, we're going to go after each of them and see exactly how Echizen screwed up this time." Momoshiro said with a grin. Murmurs of agreement followed this announcement.

"All right, then. Kikumaru-senpai, you and Oishi-senpai go after Ryuzaki-chan."

"Yes, sir!" said Kikumaru, cheekily saluting. Momoshiro rolled his eyes good-humoredly.

Kaidoh motioned to himself, Kawamura, and Inui. "The remaining third years are going after buchou with me."

Momoshiro and Fuji said, "Then we're off to find Echizen?" Inui nodded, pushing up his glasses, which flashed in the sunlight.

Like the autumn leaves in the winds of a storm, the group of seven scattered without a sound. The tennis courts were empty before you could say "Seigaku!"


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Too Little Too Late**

_It's just too little too late, a little too wrong, and I can't wait,_

_And you know all the right things to say, you know it's just too little too late,_

_You say you dream of my face, but you don't like me, you just like the chase,_

_To be real, it doesn't matter anyway, you know it's just too little too late_

Fuji and Momoshiro hurried off in the direction that Ryoma had gone. Looking outside, however, they couldn't find him anywhere. "Echizen! Oi, Echizen, where did you run off to?" yelled Momoshiro.

Fuji frowned. "Where is he? He couldn't have gone far...let's go check the courts at school."

They both sprinted over to their school, expecting to hear the pounding of tennis balls against the wall, but only silence filled the air.

"Where is he?" Momoshiro inquired.

Fuji shrugged. "Let's try his place. He might have gone home."

Momoshiro and Fuji ran over to the bus stop to catch the next ride. Throughout the entire bus ride, they tried to figure out what had gotten him so angry.

"Ryuzaki-chan said that Echizen had forgotten some appointment. Did he have a date with her or something?" Momoshiro mused.

"Probably. And Echizen obviously didn't understand that it was a date, and forgot all about it and came with us to the game yesterday. If he had told us, we obviously wouldn't have persuaded him to go."

"Right." Momoshiro shook his head, sighing sympathetically. "Poor Ryuzaki-chan. She said she had to wait for an hour and a half. And she would have, too-she's crazy about Echizen. It must have broken her heart when the idiot didn't show up."

"He deserved her yelling at him. Sakuno-chan's not the type to get mad if a guy doesn't like her, but obviously _anyone_would be angry if the person they like keeps leading them on."

Both boys nodded thoughtfully until Momoshiro paused, having noted something else. "But why'd _he _get so mad?"

Fuji was silent for a minute. "Hmm...Do you think...he's jealous of..._Tezuka?_"

Momoshiro snapped his fingers. "Of course! He's jealous of buchou! The idiot actually likes Ryuzaki-chan! But he's way too dense to realize it!"

Fuji smiled slyly. "Then it's up to us to knock some sense into that head of his. It's about time he gets a clue. And Sakuno-chan deserves to be treated better, too."

Momoshiro nodded vigorously in agreement. "Very true. Echizen honestly doesn't know what he's missing."

The bus ride ended, and he and Fuji jumped off. Running over to Ryoma's house, they rang the doorbell, and his father answered.

"What goes on, you two? Here to see Ryoma?" he asked.

"Is he here? Could we talk to him?" Fuji asked.

"Sure. He's out back." He led them inside; Fuji and Momoshiro walked out to Ryoma's tennis court. Sure enough, Ryoma was hitting a tennis ball against the wall, blatantly lacking the control his shots normally contained. His distraction due to the day's events were clearly mitigating his skill. Next to him were about seven empty Ponta cans, and about ten balls were scattered around the court. (A/N: to Ryoma, Ponta = beer apparently...)

"Echizen!" Fuji called. Ryoma turned, raising an eyebrow at his visitors.

"Fuji-senpai? Momo-senpai? What are you guys doing here?"

"To see where you ran off to, idiot," said Momoshiro. "What happened with you and Ryuzaki?"

"Nothing."

"Really, now?" Momoshiro inquired with a smirk. "She yells at you and deliberately hits balls at your face, you don't react, Tezuka-buchou comes back and Ryuzaki gives him a strangely warm welcome-"

"SHUT UP!" Ryoma bellowed suddenly.

Fuji and Momoshiro stared at him in shock. Did Echizen Ryoma just yell at his two best friends?

He, too, realized what he had just done and turned away, pulling his cap down. "Sorry."

"Anyway," said Fuji, giving Momoshiro a pointed look for beginning the conversation the wrong way, "We're just here to see you. What happened?"

"I have no idea." said Ryoma. Fuji noticed that even though his face had its usual blank look, his golden eyes held a strange mixture of anger and pain, though more of the latter.

"Echizen, why didn't you tell us that you had a date with Ryuzaki?" Momoshiro asked, more seriously.

"It wasn't a date!"

"Sure it wasn't," Momoshiro smirked, but got a nudge in the ribs as Fuji silenced him with a look again.

"The point is, Echizen, why didn't you tell us? We wouldn't have forced you to go the game otherwise." said Fuji.

"I forgot," mumbled Ryoma, a hint of shame in his voice.

"How could you forget something that important?" The two inquired together.

"Look, it was an accident, OK?"

"She doesn't seem to think so!" said Momoshiro indignantly. "Ryuzaki's probably the most patient person on _earth _and you've managed to annoy even _her_. You always do this to her. That girl is crazy about you and you break her heart just about every time she tries to make a move. In fact, you've done this so often that I'm not at all surprised she thought you stood her up on purpose. Even if you don't like her back, you don't need make her think you do!"

"I do _not _act like I like her! It's not my fault she completely misinterprets my offers to help her with tennis. It's not even my fault I don't like her back!"

"Maybe not," said Fuji quietly, anger simmering beneath his words. "But it is your fault that she got mad at you. She got angry because you forgot about the date, not because she thinks you don't return her feelings. I don't blame her at all for getting angry-I would have done the exact same thing. Don't you realize how devastated she must have been? She looked so pale today-like she hadn't slept a wink. You obviously don't realize it, but you're playing with her feelings. It's despicable."

Ryoma was silent. What could he say to that? Fuji sensed his surfacing guilt and decided to drive home the final blow.

"You're a great tennis player, Echizen, but when it comes to other people's feelings, you're completely clueless. And unless you fix that, you're going to be miserable for the rest of your life." With that, Fuji motioned to Momoshiro to leave. Momoshiro nodded, and giving Echizen a final hard glance, he followed Fuji out of Ryoma's residence.

Back at the tennis club, Sakuno had just put her racket away and gotten out her water bottle. Hitting balls hard enough to smack someone in the face was pretty tiring. Taking a long drink, she heaved a sigh, thinking about Ryoma's walking away. _What have I done? I shouldn't have been so hard on him!_

"Ryuzaki-chan?" She looked up to find Oishi and Kikumaru standing in front of her and giving her friendly smiles, which she returned half-heartedly.

"Hello, Oishi-senpai, Kikumaru-senpai. Is something wrong?"

"That's what we were going to ask you." said Oishi. "What happened with you and Echizen?"

Sakuno hesitated. "Ano...I..."

Kikumaru put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't tell us if you don't want to. We just wanted to make sure you were OK. You looked really tired and frustrated today."

"I guess." Sakuno sighed. "He was supposed to help me with tennis yesterday. When he didn't show up at first, I thought he was going to be a bit late, so I waited for a bit. But then an hour and a half passed and he still wasn't there." she said. "I wish he would stop offering to help and then treating me like I don't exist, but I don't think I should have yelled at him that much. Or hit him in his face."

Oishi shook his head. "No, I don't blame you. Nothing you did was wrong, Ryuzaki-chan. Echizen really needs to learn his lesson."

"I still feel like I shouldn't have yelled at him in front of all of you...he's probably really mad at me..."

"If he's mad at you, which he has no right to be, then he's an idiot, Sakuno-chan." Kikumaru said gently.

"Should I go apologize? I think he might have misunderstood the situation when I went and hugged Tezuka-senpai. I don't like him that way-Tezuka-senpai's like a big brother to me. Like-" Sakuno began to panic, when Oishi interrupted to stop her from blaming herself.

"Go ahead and explain that if you want, but don't apologize. Like I said, you did _nothing _wrong. Don't worry yourself about it, Ryuzaki-chan." Oishi smiled at her warmly.

"Arigato, Oishi-senpai, Kikumaru-senpai. I'll be OK." As convincing as she tried to sound, Sakuno clearly looked no better than she did before the conversation. If anything, she looked even worse. She picked up her bag. "Well, I have to go." With a polite nod and bow, she walked out the exit door.

"No problem. See you tomorrow!" Kikumaru waved enthusiastically at Sakuno's retreating figure.

He looked at Oishi when Sakuno was out of earshot. "Ochibi's really missing out. He's too dense to see what a nice girl Ryuzaki-chan is!"

"Yeah," said Oishi, "but it's up to him to understand that."

"I wouldn't say that, Oishi!" said Kikumaru with a grin.

"What do you mean?"

Kikumaru grinned mischievously. "Let's go! We've got some work to do!"

"What work?"

"You will see!" Kikumaru pulled a very confused Oishi out of the tennis club, grinning to himself all the while.

* * *

"Hey, Tezuka," Inui called.

"Inui. I was looking for you." Tezuka turned and faced the data collector.

"Were you also wondering what happened to those two?" said Kawamura.

"Hmm. Rather, I wanted a favor from you all." Tezuka replied.

All three third-years raised an eyebrow. Tezuka asking for favors? This had to be good...

"If we can help, we will," said Inui. "What do you need from us?"

"It appears that Echizen missed a practice with her. Naturally, she would have thought that he missed it intentionally, and probably got fed up and...you know the rest."

"Oh, so that's what happened." Inui rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Is Ryuzaki-chan OK?"  
"I'm worried about Sakuno-san...or rather," he corrected himself, "I'm miffed by Echizen's treatment of her."

"Well, based on his reaction when he saw Ryuzaki-chan hugging you, there's a 50% chance Echizen also likes Ryuzaki, 25% chance it was from a long time ago, a 100% chance he was jealous..." Inui appeared to have something else to say, but Tezuka cut him off before he started seeing data instead of stars.

"What if he simply dislikes being yelled at in public?"

"Well," Inui cleared his throat. _If you hadn't interrupted me that's what I would've said_..."There is also the 99.9% chance that Echizen does not know himself."

Tezuka gave him a blank look for a few moments before replying, "You mean he's so dense that he doesn't realize it?"

Kawamura chuckled. "Considering the fact that his desk is buried in piles of tennis equipment and magazines as tall as he is, I wouldn't exactly be surprised..."

Kaidoh spoke up as well. "With all due respect, Buchou, Echizen never gets embarrassed. He doesn't really care about anything other than tennis. You would know that best. He definitely did not run away in embarrassment."

Tezuka looked at his teammates before heaving a sigh of defeat. "So he was jealous, huh?"

"Absolutely." The three nodded their heads vigorously.

"..."

"..."

The four stared at each other in silence.

"So..." Kawamura laughed uneasily again. "Now what?"

"Clearly, unless Echizen gets a clue, Ryuzaki doesn't stand a chance. But obviously he's way too dense to get that clue. Therefore, Ryuzaki needs help." Inui said, taking command.

Tezuka nodded. "Now that everything's been cleared up, I agree. And this was the favor I wanted from you guys."

"To help Sakuno-chan?" Kawamura asked in surprise.

Kaidoh turned to Tezuka. "Buchou, why?"

Their captain sighed. _I knew they were going to ask this..._"She's like a younger sister to me. Sometimes when Coach Ryuzaki is off in America for business, I stay with her and take care of her. So in a sense, I've 'adopted' her as the sibling I've never had."

Mumbles of "oh..." were shared by his audience of three.

_So cheesy_...Kaidoh could not help but smile at his captain's rare show of emotion.

_I didn't know Tezuka could have any sort of emotion._ Kawamura was not one to judge people, but for all the years he had known the guy, Tezuka never displayed this type of affection for _anyone_. Or perhaps, he just chose not to.

Inui, on the other hand, whipped out his notebook and scribbled something down. The other three looked at him warily, and he pushed up his glasses, the light flashing across the lenses. "Good data," he grinned mischievously.

Tezuka resisted the urge to facepalm, and after making sure that Inui put his notebook away, the four continued to discuss their "battle plan."


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: White Horse**

_I'm not a princess, this ain't a fairy tale,_

_I'm not the one you sweep off her feet, lead her up the stairwell,_

_This ain't Hollywood, this is a small town,_

_I was a dreamer before you went and let me down,_

_Now it's too late for you and your white horse to come around..._

"Echizen-san." A painfully familiar voice spoke quietly from behind the prince. He stood stock still, but did not turn around, already too aware of who was speaking to him.

"What do you want?" He bit out angrily.

"Look, what happened yesterday-"

"Stop talking about it." Not even looking at her, he turned away. Sakuno stared after him, wondering what happened to him. _What did I do? _she stared forlornly at his diminishing figure._ I'll talk to him later, when he calms down a bit._

Meanwhile, Ryoma sped on, trying to escape any sort of confrontation with Sakuno. _Maybe I should apologize...but I can't...I just can't. I don't want to talk to her..._his face reddened and he pulled his cap down.

It was just too humiliating and shameful to even look at her right now. Not that he would admit that, even if threatened with a gallon of Inui Juice.

* * * * *

"Echizen-sa-"

"Bye." Ryoma dashed off.

* * * * *

Later, Sakuno spotted Ryoma at his locker, talking to some freshman she didn't know.

She stealthily tiptoed up from behind, but her hopes were crushed when the other freshman waved a hand and said brightly, "Hi, Ryuzaki-san!"

Ryoma left without a word, walking briskly off and leaving a confused "other freshman" and an angry Sakuno.

"What's with him?" the other guy mused. He got no response from his companion.

_You know what? Fine_. Sakuno bristled. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she roughly rubbed them away. _I am not going to cry because of him. I will not cry. I will not cry._ As she said this, however, tears once again began to sting her eyes. "I have to go." With that, she turned and sprinted over to her own locker and grabbed her backpack. Without taking even one more look at the other freshman, she began running out of the school.

He, on the other hand, watched as she became a smaller and smaller figure in the distance, blinking with a blank look on his face. "...What's with her?"

She did not stop running until she got home and into her room. Flinging herself onto the bed, she vented out two days' worth of frustration and sadness and sobbed her heart out. "I'm such an idiot! I was so stupid to even think he cared. He doesn't care about me at all! He didn't even want to listen! Heck, he didn't even apologize! Why do I even like him..."

She sat up and stared at her pillow which was slightly wet from her tears. "I actually thought that he was a bit more than just an amazing tennis player. But there's absolutely nothing in that empty heart of his. I'm not even sure if he _has _a heart."

She sunk her face back into the pillow, her voice muffled. "Why did it have to be him? Why couldn't I have fallen for...Fuji-senpai? He's at least nice, even if he is kinda creepy. Momo-senpai and Kikumaru-senpai actually have a sense of humor. Tezuka-senpai at least has a heart. Oishi-senpai is really nice even if he _is_ so awkward and perpetually nervous. Even Kaidoh-senpai is a better person then Ryo-Echizen-san."

"Sakuno?" Suddenly turning around, Sakuno found her grandmother staring at her with concern.

"Obaa-chan?" She wiped her tears.

"Are you all right? Did something happen?" Her grandmother came over and sat on the bed.

"No, I'm fine!" Sakuno replied in a falsely bright voice. "I'll...go do my homework now..."

"Sakuno, hold on." Her grandmother stopped her, holding her back. "What's wrong? Don't try to tell me that nothing's going on," she added when Sakuno opened her mouth to protest. "What did he say today?"

"I don't know who you're talking about," Sakuno said, averting her eyes.

Sumire Ryuzaki only had to give her granddaughter a look to get her to spill the beans.

Sakuno pursed her lips. "Nothing. I tried to explain why I was so happy Tezuka-senpai was back, but _nothing._ He didn't say _anything._ I don't even think he cares." Even in the middle of this sentence, her voice cracked and next thing she knew, her eyes were filling up again. Annoyingly enough, these were the sort of tears that multiplied every time she tried to wipe them away.

Her grandmother looked at her sadly. "Hey, come here." She opened her arms, and Sakuno sank into them. A fresh flood of tears flowed onto Sumire Ryuzaki's shoulder, and her own heart ached for her poor granddaughter. "There, there, now, let it all out."

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. "Coming!" Sakuno's grandmother let her lie down on the bed, went downstairs, and opened the door. Tachibana Ann stood there, smiling at her. "Ohayou gozaimasu, Ryuzaki-sensei. Is Sakuno here? I wanted to make sure she was OK after everything that happened yesterday."

"Sure, she's right inside. I think she'll be glad to see you." Coach Ryuzaki smiled at Ann and led her to Sakuno's room.

For An, it was totally not what she was expecting. She gasped when she saw the state Sakuno was in. "Oh, Sakuno!" She ran and flung her arms around the heartbroken girl. "What happened?"

"I...I wish I could kill him...UGGH!"

Oddly enough, Ann knew exactly whom she was talking about. "What's he done now?" she asked sympathetically. "Tell me where he is, so I can go and get Takeshi to yell at him."

Sakuno waved away her offer and let out another strangled cry. "He didn't even care enough to apologize. He keeps just getting mad at me. I'm so tired of being tossed around like this. I wish he would stop getting my hopes up, I really do. I thought for once that I wasn't pursuing a hopeless idea. I thought he liked me too!"

"What sort of encouragement _has_ he given you? In the past, I mean? You've never mentioned anything..." asked Ann.

"He bought me Ponta all the time, he offered to help me with tennis, he told me once that I was actually getting..." Sakuno began sobbing again. "...better..."

Ann's face darkened. This was clearly getting out of hand. "It was horrible of him to give you that much hope. He's never been that nice to anyone, ever. I don't blame you for hoping at all. That's just cruel. He's playing with your feelings!"

"I was an idiot to hope. I'm never going to like a guy ever again."

Ann was flabbergasted. "Sakuno-chan!" She grabbed her friend's shoulders so that they were eye-to-eye. "That's ridiculous! You can't throw away your entire life's happiness because of one guy! You have to move on! Show him that you don't need him, and that you never did!"

"Easy for you to say! Momo-senpai can't seem to get enough of you!"

Ann blushed but chose to ignore that rather pointed statement. "What I mean is, just act like he doesn't exist. You don't care about him anymore, OK? Show him that you don't need him to be happy. That will be the biggest blow. If anything, you'll get over him." Ann smiled at Sakuno. "Don't worry. The others and I will be here for you no matter what."

Sakuno, her flow of tears gradually decreasing, began to see some sense in what her friend said. _I don't want to make him think I care anymore, _she thought. _What's the point? I can't bear to have this happen again. She's right._

"Arigato, Ann-chan." Sakuno wiped her eyes and gave her friend a hug. "I'll try. I really will."

"Hey, no problem. So are you free now? You want to go somewhere? It'll take your mind off things."

"That would be really nice." Sakuno gave her a somewhat watery smile, feeling much better than she did a few seconds ago.

"Awesome. I'll wait downstairs, you get ready." Ann gave her a smile and left the room.

A few minutes later, Sakuno walked downstairs, her countenance a little lighter. Ann slipped her arm through hers. "Let's go!" she said in a singsong voice. Sakuno couldn't help but smile at her friend's cheerfulness. "Yeah!" she cheered along.

Ann dragged her out of the house and over to the mall. "Remind me where we're going again?" Sakuno asked.

"Right, about that. Fudomine, Rikkadai, and Seigaku are having a combined dance next week. We're going dress shopping!"

"What?" Sakuno looked at Ann, eyes wide with alarm.

"That's right!"

"I wasn't even going to go...Ryo-Echizen-san might be there..." Sakuno caught herself mid-word.

"No worries. Knowing him, he would never come to a dance willingly. Don't worry. Besides, you can meet other guys."

_I guess not,_ thought Sakuno. _Besides, I haven't been dress shopping in a while._

The two girls first stopped at a cafe (Sakuno decided that she needed a double-chocolate mocha latte to get an energy and confidence boost) and then strolled to Prada.

"What would you two young ladies be looking for?" the clerk asked them with a smile.

"Evening dresses." Ann told her.

"Right this way." The clerk led them to the far right of the store, where they were surrounded by several dresses of different sizes and colors.

"Fitting rooms are to your left, and let me know if you need anything." she smiled again.

"Thanks!" With that, Ann began rummaging through the first rack and pulled out a short dark blue halter-top dress. "Sakuno, this one's really nice! You want to try it on?"

"It is, but it'll clash with my hair. It might work for you, though."

"No way, I would look horrible in this. Besides, I like light colors better." This sort of conversation went on for about half an hour as Sakuno and Ann searched for "the perfect dress".

"How's this one?" Ann walked out of the fitting room, wearing a lovely lavender spaghetti-strap dress that fell just below her knees. "I found two other ones, but..."

"No. Get this one. It looks absolutely perfect on you!" Sakuno exclaimed. "You look so beautiful!"

Ann smiled. "You really think so?"

"Momo-senpai is going to faint." Sakuno gave her friend a wink.

_"_Sakuno!" She smacked her shoulder playfully and blushed. "OK, let's find a really nice one for you!"

For Sakuno, it took a much longer time to find a nice dress. Several of the dresses were the perfect size, but they were either too pricey (come on, they were at _Prada)_, or they clashed with her hair.

In frustration, Sakuno sprinted to the dressing room and sat inside, wondering what to do. _It's already really late, so I can't go to a different store..._when suddenly she looked up in surprise.

Someone had left the prettiest dress she had ever seen hanging on the doorknob.

"It's beautiful..." she breathed, wistfully reaching out and grabbing it. Taking off her jeans and sweatshirt, she slipped the lovely dance creation on. It was a perfect fit.

Walking outside, she stood in front of the dressing room door. "An?" she called. "How's this?"

Ann turned, and her jaw dropped. She could not help but stare.

"What's wrong?" Sakuno glanced down at the shimmering skirt. "Do I look horrible? Does it have a stain?"

"No, no! You look gorgeous! This is the perfect dress for you. You _have _to buy it." Ann said decidedly, running over to where her friend stood. She felt the filmy fabric of the dress. "It's stunning..."

"I'm glad you approve. Shall we go?"

"Sure." Sakuno changed back into her clothes and stuck the dress back onto its hanger. The two friends walked over to the counter, paid for the dresses (which were surprisingly cheap considering regular Prada prices) and started home, talking and laughing about random things. Clearly, this outing had improved Sakuno's mood dramatically, and she actually felt like she had a life again.

They both could tell that the dance was going to be pretty exciting. Whether or not that's a good thing, we have yet to find out.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Bad Day**

Sakuno walked-no, skipped-into tennis club with Ann the next day. She had just gotten back an English quiz which she thought she had bombed, but had actually not done that badly, so despite some of the recent heartbreaking events in her life, she actually was in quite a good mood.

"The dance is tonight! I can't wait!" said Ann happily.

"Yeah, it should be fun. Though I'm sure you have more reasons than I do for thinking it would be fun...something to do with a certain second-year at our school..." Sakuno grinned evilly. Ann's visage immediately colored and she smacked Sakuno on the forehead.

"Itai! Stop doing that!" Sakuno rubbed her forehead and suddenly slapped Ann on the shoulder. The two proceeded to have a playful "sissy-fight" when the arrival of two Rikkadai third-years suddenly captured their attention.

Much to their surprise, _Sanada Genichirou _was walking into the courts with a _girl_ hanging onto his neck piggyback style.

The very fact that a female human being was in that close of a proximity to him was alarming enough. But the real shock? It was _Moriyama Kimiko._

_Whoa there._

_Wait a sec._

_WHAAAAAAAT?_

After getting over the initial earthquake of shock, Sakuno and Ann ran over to where their friend was standing with her new boyfriend. Sakuno could not express her astonishment in words. "No way. Don't tell me you two are a couple right now."

Before Sanada could reply, however, Yukimura Seiichi walked over to where they were and gave Sakuno and Ann a grin. "Oh, it's quite a nice story actually. Sanada had to tutor Kimiko here in math, and then she tried to give him chocolates on Valentine's Day, but he...shall we say..._accidentally_ shooed her away. And then he got a clue and made it up to her on White Day. It took quite a while for us to knock some sense into this baka's head." (A/N: See Hime-chan's other story "The Empress" for details!)

Now it was time for the aftershock of the earthquake. Ann and Sakuno stared at the couple, wondering how two people who had utterly despised one another could suddenly get together, and they both sweatdropped.

"Well," Ann said finally. "At least Sanada-senpai did get a clue." She turned and gave Ryoma, who was watching them (Sakuno, actually) intently, a glare and continued, "Not like an idiot freshman I know who goes to Seigaku."

Angry though she was at Ryoma, Sakuno blushed crimson and averted her eyes, knowing full well that Ryoma could hear everything they were talking about. He didn't seem to care, though, never taking his eyes off Sakuno.

"What'd Echizen do _now?_" whispered Yukimura, sounding exasperated but actually looking slightly amused.

"What _hasn't_ he done?" sighed An.

"Sakuno, care to elaborate?" Kimiko asked.

"It's nothing." Sakuno shook her head. _Hey, I'm not lying. There is _nothing _going on._

Kimiko let go of Sanada's neck and jumped down to the ground. Grabbing Sakuno by the arm and pulling her a couple feet away, she opened her mouth to interrogate her friend, but was interrupted by a shrill whistle.

"All right!" the coach bellowed out. "Everyone gather round!"

Sakuno heaved a sigh of relief. _Phew, I'm saved_. Gently detaching Kimiko's grasp on her arm, she moved over towards the coach, taking advantage of the flow of people to avoid the imminent questioning.

Kimiko hissed in frustration at the mob between her and Sakuno. She opened her mouth again to yell her friend's name, but Ann caught her elbow. Kimiko turned and gave Ann a questioning look.

Ann shook her head. "Let her go. She's had a rough week."

Kimiko paused, feeling slightly guilty at her almost-attack on Sakuno. However, a few seconds later, her eyes gleamed and she turned to Ann again, this time with a puppy-dog pout and eyes.

"So..." she began, and Ann had a bad feeling she knew what was coming. "Can _you_ tell me?" Kimiko begged; Ann stopped herself from facepalming.

"All right, all right. Now stop giving me that face, girl."

"Yay!"

Ann gave her a look. "Really? I'm going to tell you Sakuno's sad story and your reaction is 'Yay'? You gossip girl!"

"You know what I mean." Kimiko punched her in the arm, but her eyes followed Sakuno, clearly worried about the other girl. "I hope she's OK..."

"She'll be all right. Come on, we have to go." Ann nudged Kimiko over to the rest of the crowd, as the club practice began.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: Blackmail**

_You're blackmailing me_

_Sponging all my money_

_I don't think it's funny_

_The way you've been badgering me_

"I. Am. Not. Going." Ryoma glared at Momoshiro and Fuji, who both were wearing Armani suits and had somehow forced him into one (A/N: Don't ask how. They weren't able to get him to discard that cap of his, though.)

"Come on, Echizen, it'll be fun!"

"Yadda."

"It doesn't matter what you say, Echizen, you're going even if we have to drag you there." grinned Momoshiro. "Hurry up, we're going to be late."

"What do you have against dances, anyway?" asked Fuji. "They're just parties, if you really think about it."

"Exactly!" Ryoma said indignantly. "Dances are so retarded. They're all dark and noisy, everyone's wearing fancy stuff that's going to get ruined sooner or later, girls start acting stupid-"

"Oh, look who's talking about acting stupid," Momoshiro said, rolling his eyes.

"Whatever. I'm not going and you can't make me." Ryoma, being as stubborn as he was, sat down on his bed and crossed his arms, much to Momoshiro's dismay.

Momoshiro looked at Fuji despairingly, but much to his surprise, Fuji smiled. He pulled out his phone and flipped through his pictures and videos. When he found the one he wanted, he showed it to Momoshiro.

"Whoa...this is a good one!" Momoshiro laughed.

"What are you two laughing about?" Ryoma asked, annoyed.

"Oh, just a video of you buying the Twilight movie at the video store," Momoshiro showed it to Ryoma, who froze, and was speechless for the second time that week.

"What's this, Echizen? You watch chick flicks? And the clerk's asking you if you want to use your 'frequent customer' discount!" Fuji laughed.

"It was for Nanako!" Ryoma made a grab for the phone, but Momoshiro pulled it out of his reach. This was easy, considering Ryoma's height (or lack thereof).

"So, Echizen, this would definitely look wonderful on my Facebook page..." Fuji smiled. Ryoma reddened with anger but said nothing.

"How does that dance sound now?" asked Momoshiro, grinning from ear to ear.

Realizing that there was no other way out, Ryoma threw his pillow at Momoshiro in defeat. "Oh, let's get out of here," he grumbled and stalked out the door.

As soon as he left, Momoshiro and Fuji looked at each other. "SUCCESS!" they yelled, and high-fived.

As Ryoma stomped out of the house, his dad called after him, "Have fun, kiddo!"

_I cannot possibly be related to that man...someone probably dumped me on his doorstep. _He was tempted to turn around and give a certain crude finger gesture to his father, but decided against it since his mother was waiting about ten feet away in the car to drive him and his  
teammates to the dance.

Choosing to silently get in the car and sulk instead, Ryoma waited until Fuji and Momoshiro came in as well, one each from the left and right. Purposely squishing him in between their much larger bodies, the two senpais laughed over their victory, further annoying the youngest of the bunch. "Now, Echizen, was that so hard?"

"I hate you guys."

"Awww, that's mean. You know you love us!" Momoshiro grinned at his kouhai.

"Not to mention," Fuji added, "You seriously need to stop obsessing over tennis."

"It's not an obsession," Ryoma protested sullenly.

"Uh, yeah, it is. You go to school to play tennis, you go home to play tennis, you read about tennis, you study tennis. It's like you don't even live in this world. I bet you'd _marry_ tennis if you could!" said Momoshiro, laughing.

"Everyone else does, too...so do you!" Ryoma attempted to defend himself.

"_We_ wouldn't commit suicide if tennis ceased to exist." Fuji deadpanned. "Admit it, Echizen, without tennis, you'd be nothing."

Ryoma had no response to that, so he sat and pouted. _I hate my life_.

As the car started and began moving towards the fated destination of the school dance, Ryoma sighed and gave in to his two leering teammates. _Let's get this over with...I hope I survive tonight's torture._

Oh, if only he knew what was in store for him.


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: Falling to Pieces**

_What am I gonna do when the best part of me was always you?_

_What am I supposed to say when I'm all choked up and you're OK?_

_I'm falling to pieces...I'm falling to pieces_

_Oh my God..._Ryoma literally groaned about an hour later. _This is horrible_...

It was the second slow dance of the night, and he had just escaped another stampede of girls chasing after him for a dance and yelling "RYOMA-SAMA!" at the tops of their lungs. It was amazing that he could even hear their voices over the way-too-loud music, too.

Momoshiro had ditched him to go dance with Ann Tachibana (what a surprise), and Fuji...who knew where he was? _Probably finding someone else to blackmail_, Ryoma thought bitterly. He leaned out on the balcony, thoroughly regretting being forced out there by the upperclassmen.

_Next time, just screw it. Chick flick or no chick flick, I'm _not_ coming to any more of these stupid "social events"_.

Just as that thought crossed his mind, squeals and whistles erupted from inside the dance hall, even audible through the balcony window which Ryoma had purposely closed. In spite of himself, Ryoma's curiosity was piqued. After all, people do say that curiosity kills the cat.

He walked back inside to find the source of the ruckus. Squeezing and pushing through the crowd, he popped out into an open space, only to be stunned at the sight of the people who had just entered the room.

Tezuka, linking arms with a gorgeous girl Ryoma didn't recognize, walked slowly into the dance hall. Decked in a modest dress shirt and pants, the captain was as attractive as ever.

However, the spotlight was stolen tonight by his companion. Wearing a flowing gold maxi, flats, and dangling earrings shaped like golden leaves, that girl could have been the queen of all Seigaku for the night.

Yet, there was something familiar about her which Ryoma couldn't quite put his finger on.

Stepping slightly closer to get a better look, he looked the girl over. His gaze fell on the girl's shining chocolate-brown eyes, which were beautifully brought out by the pale gold of her dress. Those eyes..._no way._

_No. Way...Ryuzaki?_

Ryoma could only gape in awe at his classmate's changed appearance. _She cut her hair..._he noticed. Sakuno's normally braided auburn hair was now half as long, curled to fall softly onto her shoulders like the waves of the sea. Words could not describe the surprise of Echizen Ryoma at that particular moment. It seemed that at that particular moment, he had suddenly realized how beautiful his classmate really was. _Wait...what the hell am I thinking?_

Unexpectedly, the DJ played another song, causing everyone to break out of their trance, and they all returned to dancing about. _Well, that was an abrupt change of mood, _he smirked. He went to go get a drink, and then sat down at a table nearby. _I wonder what Ryuzaki's doing..._

He looked over to where Sakuno was, and almost dropped his Ponta in shock.

_Well, well, well. What do we have here? _Fuji smiled when he saw how everyone was staring at Tezuka and Sakuno when they came in. There were a few wolf whistles, more than a few glares from Tezuka's evil fangirls, and a lot of smiles from Tomoka, An, Kimiko, and the rest of Sakuno's friends. And the best part? Ryoma's surprise at how beautiful Sakuno was suddenly looking. _And finally he realizes that she's a girl_, he smiled.

Fuji noticed Ryoma take a step towards Sakuno, but before Ryoma could open his mouth to call her name, Fuji whooshed in front of him and spun her away. He chuckled when he saw Ryoma's jaw drop to the floor, practically, as he spoke in hushed tones to Sakuno in the corner of the room.

"Konbanwa, Sakuno-chan. You look absolutely stunning."

"Th-thank you, Fuji-senpai." Sakuno smiled shyly, a dash of red coloring her high cheekbones. "You don't look so bad yourself."

Fuji stole a furtive glance at Ryoma, and taking care to see that Ryoma was watching them, asked, "May I have this dance?" He extended his hand out in a gentlemanly gesture.

Sakuno hesitated at first, biting her lip. But she nodded her head and took his hand. "S-sure."

Fuji led Sakuno to the middle of the dance floor, making sure that he was in Ryoma's line of vision. Rather tentatively, Sakuno placed her hands around his neck, and Fuji put his hands around her waist. As they began swaying to the music, Sakuno swallowed and stared straight ahead. A bit later, however, she relaxed and met his blue eyes.

"So..." Fuji smiled slyly, eyes twinkling with mischief. "Rumor has it that you and Tezuka are a..." his voice trailed off suggestively.

Sakuno looked at him, confused. "What, Fuji-senpai?"

Fuji whisked them closer to Ryoma's position near the wall, pointedly raising his voice as he said, "I heard you and Tezuka are a couple..." He grinned widely when he saw, from his peripheral vision, Ryoma tense up like Karupin does when his catnip is on the line.

Pleased with the results of his experiment, Fuji brought Sakuno back away from Ryoma into the center of the dance floor, where Sakuno shook her head good-humoredly and blushed slightly. "That's just a rumor, senpai. I do love him, but only as a brother. I am extremely grateful to him for all he has done for me and grandma."

The tensai smiled and nodded in understanding. "Actually, I knew that already."

Sakuno cocked her head to the side in confusion again. "Then why...?"

"Because I wanted to see a certain somebody over there," he jerked his chin in Ryoma's direction, "about to throw a fit of jealousy."

Sakuno turned, glimpsing Ryoma close to the refreshments table, simply leaning against the wall; but he was looking-at _her_. She looked back at Fuji, who noticed a slight flush of her cheeks. "I..I don't think he did, Fuji-senpai."

"Oh, but believe me, Sakuno-chan," Fuji grinned evilly. "He will be by the end of tonight."

As if on cue, he took Sakuno's hand and guided it to a new partner. In her shock, Sakuno only had the time to cry, "Wha-?" before being waltzed slowly away to a quieter section of the room. She looked at her new "captor," before considerably relaxing. "Tezuka-senpai!" she gasped in relief.

"Hello there, Sakuno-san." Tezuka gave her a rare smile, eliciting gasps of horror and glares of jealousy from his rabid fangirls. Sakuno shrank to hide from their view.

"Tezuka-senpai, your fangirls are scary..."

"Don't mind them." Tezuka replied brusquely, shuddering, to which Sakuno raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"It's a bit hard to do that when they're glaring at us all the time," she said, giggling a little.

"Like I said, don't mind them. They won't do anything to you while I'm here."

Unbeknownst to Sakuno, Ryoma had just walked by them; he happened to hear Tezuka's last sentence, and his countenance visibly darkened. Fuji noted this with satisfaction, and he continued to observe Tezuka's and Sakuno's dance.

_Operation 'Make Echizen Jealous' is underway_, he thought to himself. _But we need to make him really freak out...how to do that?_ He looked around the room. _Who does Echizen really hate?_

After looking around for a bit, his eyes settled on one particularly annoying freshman.  
Perfect.

Moving subtly over to his target, he nudged him gently in the ribs. "Hey, you want a dance with Sakuno-chan?"

He heard a nervous gulp, whether from fear of him or anticipation, he wasn't sure. "Fuji-senpai, is that really Ryuzaki?"

"Yes. I'll get you a dance with her in just a second." The third year's eyes could not have been any scarier. His target gulped again-this time, it was definitely from fear.

Fuji walked back onto the dance floor, smoothly gliding between and through the dancing couples, finally reaching Tezuka and Sakuno on the other side of the room. He tapped Tezuka on the shoulder; the captain turned to him questioningly. Fuji extended his hand out once again, and Tezuka looked at Sakuno for approval. Albeit a bit confusedly, she nodded in consent, and Tezuka gave her hand back to his friend.

"Hello again, Fuji-senpai!" Sakuno smiled politely, although still slightly confused.

Fuji grinned back at her and asked, "You came to this dance to meet new people, right?"

"Ano..."

"Of course you did!" Fuji beamed. And before Sakuno could protest, he spun her over in front of the freshman. It happened to be the same freshman whom Ryoma was talking to the other day, when Sakuno had tried to explain her happiness at seeing Tezuka. The one who happened to know her name, for some creepy reason she didn't want to know.

"OK...ummm..." Sakuno blushed and looked at her feet. She felt a bit better when she saw that the freshman was equally uncomfortable.

"Ano...so...you wanna dance?" he asked.

"Sure..." Sakuno slipped her hands around his neck, and he put his hands around her waist. They began swaying slowly.

"What's your name?" Sakuno timidly asked her partner.

"Oh, sorry, I'm Horio Satoshi."

Sakuno nodded. What else could she say? Thankfully, Horio asked her a question before she had to think of a conversation-starter, and soon they were conversing freely, much to her relief. _This is actually kind of fun, _she thought with a smile.

_Oh. My. God. You have got to be kidding me_. Ryoma grabbed a nearby table, digging his fingernails into the wood to resist the urge to storm over and punch Horio in the face. _What's wrong with her? Why is she dancing with...with..._that_?_

_This has to stop. Right now._

Without thinking, he stormed over to where they were dancing and grabbed Sakuno by the arm. Pulling her away from the astonished and enraged Horio, he dragged her to the other end of the room.

"Ryuzaki, what are you doing? Why are you dancing with that idiot?" He thrust a furious finger in Horio's direction.

Stunned into silence, Sakuno was fighting a battle with herself. _Why does he even care? Is he jealous? _The thought made her heart beat rapidly, but her rational mind scolded her. _No, no more dreaming about him. You've moved on, he doesn't care about you._She looked away, refusing to meet his eyes. "It's none of your business. Let go."

His grip tightened. "No."

"Let. Go." Sakuno hoped she sounded colder than she felt. Her skin was burning where Ryoma was gripping her arm, and her cheeks felt like they were on fire. By this time, a small crowd had gathered around the two, and while Ryoma seemed to care little for the spectators, Sakuno felt extremely self-conscious.

"No," Ryoma replied again stubbornly, and Sakuno finally snapped.

"I said, let _go _already!" she flung her hand away from the boy's grip, accidentally slapping her hand straight into his cheek and leaving a blunt red mark on Ryoma's face. She gasped when she realized what she had done, reaching out to apologize, but Ryoma backed away distrustingly.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to-"

"Whatever." Ryoma waved off her apology and walked away.

_Deja vu much? Why does he always act like I'm the one who did everything wrong? _Sakuno thought angrily. _I knew not to expect anything from that baka. Whatever._She walked back over to Horio. "Sorry about that."

"No problem."

Meanwhile, Ryoma felt even more angry than he did a few minutes ago, but for some reason, he felt quite miserable, too. _What's wrong with me? She just slapped me, but for some reason I'm not mad at _her_, though I should be._

Suddenly, the image of Sakuno dancing with the idiot Horio loomed in his mind again (or more like he saw them dancing right in front of him), and he decided that he couldn't take it anymore.

_That's it. This night could not get any worse. I'm leaving._

He stood up and ran to the door, only to be suddenly pulled back by two pairs of strong hands, much to his surprise.

_And, I was wrong._"Whaa..." Ryoma turned around, only to find Fuji and Momoshiro smirking at him. "Senpai-tachi?"

"We need to talk." Fuji said, his voice grave but his eyes smiling.

"No way in hell am I staying here another minute. Leave me alone."

"No, Echizen, we really need to talk." said Fuji.

Angry beyond belief, Ryoma vented out all of his rage on Fuji. "I've done more than enough for you guys! You forced me to come to this stupid dance against my will and I stayed here for three hours. This is ridiculous. I'm leaving."

Momoshiro smirked. "You think this dance is ridiculous? Are you sure _that's_why you're leaving?"

Ryoma stiffened. "I _don't _want to talk about it."

Before Momoshiro could say something else stupid and make Ryoma leave, Fuji cut in. "No, Echizen, this is too important. We need to talk to you. Tell you what, if you listen to me now, for the next three weeks, every time you get laps, I'll run them for you."

Ryoma thought for a minute. As much as he didn't want to listen again, the idea of not running laps for the next three weeks was pretty tempting. And even better? He could get revenge on Fuji for everything he did tonight, starting with the blackmail. _Oh, yeah. Fuji's going to run about a thousand laps by the time I'm done with him._

"Fine, what do you want?"

"Not here. Outside." Momoshiro pointed towards the door.

"Fine." Ryoma said again, following Fuji and Momoshiro outside. Much to his surprise, _Inui _was there too.

"Inui-senpai, what are you doing here?"

"Knocking some sense into the head of the prince of denseness." said Momoshiro cheekily.

"Oh, you're one to talk-"

"Echizen," Inui said firmly. "That's no way to talk to your senpai. All right, based on what we've seen of you tonight, there is a 97.7% chance you were jealous-"

"Nope. Definitely 100%." said Momoshiro.

"_Anyway_," said Inui, glaring at Momoshiro, "we have all reached a conclusion. You have a crush on Ryuzaki-chan."

_Wait._

_Hold on a sec._

_WHAAAAT?_

Ryoma's shock was so loud in his thoughts that he wondered if his senpais could hear it.

"I know this may seem like a lot to process-" began Fuji.

"No duh."

"So you're not denying it?" Momoshiro asked, slightly surprised but grinning nonetheless.

"What? Of course I deny it! Girls are so weird! I couldn't even like a girl if I tried!"

"Coming from a person who knows nothing about girls..." whispered Momoshiro to himself.

"As if you're the world's expert on females, Momoshiro," Fuji smiled.

"Hey!"

"Anyway," Inui continued, silencing Momoshiro with a glare, "that's where you're wrong, Echizen." Inui stated clearly. "Didn't you feel like you wanted to poke Fuji's eyes out when you saw him dancing with her?"

Ryoma's silence told Inui exactly what he wanted to know.

"And didn't seeing Sakuno dancing with Tezuka make you wonder if they were a couple?" Inui continued.

Still no response, but his eyes narrowed. Fuji noted this with a smile.

"And Horio...well...I don't think I need to remind you of that."

"You don't." Ryoma replied through gritted teeth.

"And don't you think Ryuzaki looked absolutely amazing tonight?" Momoshiro asked with a grin.

His question was once again met with silence; instead, Ryoma pulled his cap down to cover his face...

_A blush, perhaps?_Inui grinned. "Well?"

Ryoma stared at the ground, the tables, the building-anything to avoid meeting their gazes. "But what does it matter? She hates me now."

"No way. That girl couldn't hate you if she _tried_." Fuji smiled, and for the first time that night, Ryoma's anger towards him began to abate slightly, though he still resolved to make Fuji run laps for the blackmail at least.

"I wouldn't bet on it. She actually slapped me today." This was met with a temporary silence, but Inui cleared his throat and spoke.

"Echizen, based on Ryuzaki's behavior in the past, it is 98.7% likely that it was an accident. Even if she is still angry with you for missing the date, she still would not have slapped you on purpose."

"You don't understand. She's..._changed_." Ryoma said, his expression unreadable. "I never knew she could get that angry. And as for her shots to my face..._whoa._"

"If anything, I think that she just thinks you don't care about her, Echizen." Fuji said. "You're just going to have to show her she's wrong."

"I don't know." Ryoma said, his voice strained with uneasiness, his eyes showing a hint of sadness. "I don't think I can, what with her being with Tezuka-buchou and all."

All three senpais, even Inui, shared a secret smile.

"Can you at least try?" Fuji finally asked, but Ryoma didn't appear to hear him.

"I'm leaving. See you guys at practice." Before they could call him back, he turned and sprinted towards his mother's car.

"Good data," said Inui, taking out his notebook with a grin. Fuji rolled his eyes.

"'Operation: Make Echizen Get a Clue' is complete!" Momoshiro said happily, giving Fuji a high-five. "That was the hardest part. I feel accomplished now!"

"This is coming from someone who did _nothing _to help. All you did was flirt with Tachibana Ann all night." Fuji smiled.

"Senpai!" A reddening Momoshiro aimed a punch at Fuji's shoulder, but the tensai's quick reflexes had him out of the way with seconds to spare.

"Either way," said Inui gravely, "we still need to convince Sakuno-chan not to give up." Fuji shook his head.

"No, I don't think that's necessary. If we can get Echizen to confess that will be good enough."

"Save that for later. We've done enough for one day. Let's go back inside." said Momoshiro. "I wanna say bye to Tachibana's little sister."

"Of course you do." Fuji smiled and rolled his eyes. "Jaa ne, Inui."

"See you."


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11: Crush on You**

"Hey, Sakuno!" her cheesy and very loud friend Tomoka yelled. Sakuno's ears automatically adjusted themselves to her loudness and she smiled back.

"Hi, Tomo-chan! The dance was fun, wasn't it?"

"It was! I thought it was really sweet when Ann-chan showed up and Momo-senpai practically fainted!" The two girls laughed really loud at _that_memory (it was a memory for Tomoka, which she told Sakuno).

_Flashback: (i.e. a bit about the dance between Momo and An, just for fun maybe? :D)_

Tachibana Ann walked onto the dance floor with her brother, wearing the lavender spaghetti-strap dress she had bought when she had gone shopping with Sakuno. Looking around, she spotted Tomoka and ran over to her.

"Hi, Tomo-chan! How are you?"

"I'm fine. Have you seen Sakuno? Where is she?"

"I purposely told her to come late so that she could make an entrance." Ann grinned. "Takeshi filled me in on the plan they had to make that baka Echizen jealous."

"Normally I would tell you not to disrespect Ryoma-sama, but in this case I must make an exception." Tomoka said gravely. "This time, he's gone too far."

"Un." The two girls went over to the snacks table to grab something to drink. At that moment, Fuji and Momoshiro had just walked in, dragging Ryoma with them.

Seeing Momoshiro walk in, Ann blushed slightly. Tomoka noted this with a grin. "Go and say hi to him!"

"No, not yet." Ann turned away, face reddening by the second. Tomoka paid no heed to her pleas and dragged her over to where Momoshiro was standing alone (because Fuji and Ryoma had both gone somewhere else).

"Konbanwa, Momo-senpai!" Tomoka smiled at him. Momoshiro greeted her, but when he turned to Ann, his jaw dropped.

"What's wrong, Takeshi-kun?" Ann smiled innocently, successfully hiding her nervousness at seeing her crush.

"You...look..." Momo stuttered. For once, the confident and energetic second-year had absolutely nothing to say.

Tomoka grinned. "She looks stunning, doesn't she?"

"Whoa..." Momoshiro breathed, still in a trance. Ann snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Takeshi-kun...doushitano? What's wrong?"

"Do you want to dance?" he asked suddenly, snapping out of his trance and giving her a nervous smile.

Ann blushed. "Sure."

Tomoka smiled affectionately as those two began dancing, choosing instead to look around for Sakuno.

_End flashback_

"She's so happy with him." Sakuno smiled.

"Yeah, she's really lucky." Tomoka added. "I heard that he asked her to be his legit girlfriend! Good for her!"

"Really? That's awesome! I have to ask her about that!" Sakuno exclaimed. She was obviously ecstatic for her friend.

"Let's ask her right now! Do you have your phone on you?"

"Yeah, I do." Sakuno pulled out her phone to text Ann and check to see if the rumors were true, while Tomoka looked over her shoulder eagerly.

* * *

Sakuno: Ann-chan!

Ann: Hey Sakuno! What's up?

Sakuno: Is it true?

Ann: Is what true?

Sakuno: Did Momo-senpai ask you out?

Ann: …

Sakuno: Well?

Ann:...yes.

Sakuno: OMG! Waaa...lucky you! Did he kiss you?

Ann: What? Why are you asking me that?

Sakuno: Why aren't you answering?

Ann:...maybe...

Sakuno: OH MY GOD YOU'RE SO LUCKY WAAHHHH!

Ann: You OK? You don't sound like yourself...

Sakuno: Oh, whoops...sorry this is Tomoka. I stole the phone from Sakuno.

Ann: Haha! I should have known...

* * *

"Sakuno-chan?" Sakuno turned to see Momoshiro, Kikumaru, and Fuji standing in front of her and giving her smiles. She turned back to her phone and typed in, "Gotta go...senpai-tachi calling..." before turning to them. "Senpai-tachi? Can I help you?"

"Well..." Momo looked a little embarrassed. "We were just wondering if...we could ask you something..."

"Sure, what do you need?" Sakuno gave them a smile.

"Do you...do you still...do you still like Echizen?" Momoshiro finally asked.

Sakuno's smile immediately disappeared and she averted her eyes. "Did _he_send you here?" she asked more harshly than she meant to.

Before Momo could answer, Fuji cut in. "Never mind that, Sakuno-chan. Do you still like him or not?"

Sakuno had no idea what to say. "I...uh..." Part of her wanted to immediately answer in the affirmative, but her rational mind once again intervened. _Sakuno...get a grip and say no!_

"N-no...I don't."

Kikumaru and Momoshiro looked taken aback, and Fuji suddenly stopped smiling. "Ryuzaki-chan..." Kikumaru started. "Are you sure..."

"H-hai." She turned and looked at Tomoka, who was giving her a _Don't look at me! I don't know what you should say either! _look. "Why?"

"Echizen really cares about you, Sakuno-chan. You should have seen him at the dance yesterday...he got really jealous of pretty much every guy that you spared the slightest glance. Not to mention, he didn't even try to deny it when we accused him of liking you."

She said nothing. "Do you think...you could give him another chance?" Kikumaru asked gently.

Sakuno stopped. At this point, she started to get indignant and a little angry even though her heartbeat quickened at the thought of Ryoma reciprocating her feelings.

He hadn't even apologized and all of a sudden he sent his senpai-tachi over to see if she would relent and get over her grudge, just because he was too proud to apologize? No way.

She turned away from Fuji's penetrating gaze and her eyes searched around for something else to stare at to avoid her senpai's powerful blue eyes. Suddenly, through her peripheral vision, she noticed a golden-eyed freshman who was eavesdropping on their conversation. Her eyes narrowed and she barely suppressed a glare, opting to turn her head away instead._ Oh, so you did send them here, did you? Too proud to come and apologize for yourself, are you? Would it kill you to just admit you're wrong for once? Now take this!_

"Sorry, senpai-tachi. I can't forgive Echizen-san. He's gone way too far this time. And don't try to tell me that he cares for me...I'm no longer stupid enough to be blind to the fact that all he cares about is tennis. And you can tell him that not only do I not believe that he supposedly likes me, but he can _marry _that stupid tennis racket of his for all I care!" With this last sentence, she grabbed Tomoka's hand. "Let's go, Tomo-chan. Jaa ne, senpai-tachi." She bowed and off the two girls went.

It would be the understatement of the century to say that Fuji, Momoshiro, and Kikumaru were shocked out of their lives. Even Fuji's normally smiling face had an expression of utter astonishment on it. They walked over to Ryoma.

"Well...that didn't work..." Momo chuckled uneasily.

_You think? _Ryoma suddenly felt as if he wanted to punch something, having no idea why he was so angry all of a sudden. "I...I thought she..."

"Echizen, I think that if you want to gain her forgiveness at all, you're going to have to apologize to her yourself." Fuji told him.

"Why should I apologize? I didn't do anything wrong!"

Something inside Momoshiro snapped. "Echizen, just shut up and listen to us for once!" he yelled. "Just get over it and accept the fact that it _is_your fault she's mad at you! Why is that so hard for you?"

"He can't swallow his pride." Fuji answered Momoshiro's question for him. Ryoma fumed silently and said nothing. Of course, being the cocky idiot that he was, he couldn't handle criticism to save his life.

"Ochibi, would you just go apologize to her?" Kikumaru asked.

"I'm leaving. Ja." Ryoma turned and made a bolt for the tennis courts, intent on escaping both his senpai-tachi's criticism and his own conflicted feelings.

Meanwhile, in the deserted cafeteria, Tomoka was gaping at Sakuno. "I cannot believe you just said that to the senpai-tachi."

"Oh no...I hope they're not mad at me..."

"I'm sure they aren't, but Sakuno...are you really over Ryoma-sama?"

"..."

"Come on, I'm your best friend! I won't tell anyone, I swear!"

"OK, fine. Truth be told, Tomo-chan, I'm not. I really want to be, but...it hurts so much and it's so hard! Baka! Why'd he ever come here? Why'd I ever meet him on that train? Why'd I ever fall in love with him?" Sakuno looked on the verge of a tearful rant when Tomoka pulled her into a hug.

"Do you love him then?"

"I have no idea. God, I hope not..."

Tomoka secretly believed the affirmative, but she did not voice her opinion for the sake of her friend's mental health. "Don't worry, Sakuno! I'm sure it's meant to be! It was fate! If Ryoma-sama ever falls for anyone it'll definitely be you. You're the only girl he's ever cared about."

"Thanks, Tomo-chan, but he probably won't ever fall in love with anyone. He doesn't have it in him. You need a heart to fall in love, remember?" Sakuno said bitterly and wiped away her tears. "Oh dear. Why are we even talking about him? He's definitely not thinking about either of us right now. Let's go!" The two friends both packed up and got ready to leave, resuming their previously interrupted conversation about Ann and Momoshiro.

Little did they know, however, that Sakuno had never been more wrong in her life, because she was the only thing on Ryoma's mind that entire evening. And for some reason, Sakuno could not stop sneezing all night.


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12: Once Upon a Broken Heart**

_Never believed fairy tales came true, but now I know that they really do_

_Now that I've found you, now that I'm here with you, just look at the sunshine_

_And you showed me a world I'd never seen, I woke up and fell into this dream_

_Happily ever after just took time, once upon this broken heart of mine_

_I have never ever been so bored in my life..._Ryoma just sat in his English class, staring into space, and waiting for Sensei to dismiss the class so that he could go get ready for tennis practice. Luckily for him, the boys' tennis season had restarted, so he actually had something to get him through the day, despite some of the recent heartbreaking events in _his_life.

_What would I do without tennis..._Suddenly, as he snapped back into reality to find that everyone in class was staring at him.

"Echizen Ryoma, what did I just ask the class?"

Ryoma froze. The class, knowing full well that he wasn't paying attention, stared at him intently, wondering what dry response he was going to give.

"RRRINNGG!" The bell rang, and he grabbed all of his books and literally sprinted out of the classroom, much to the teacher's frustration. _Literally saved by the bell,_he sighed with relief. Running to the guys' locker room, he changed into his tennis clothes in less than five minutes, feeling much better.

Ryoma strolled onto the courts with a spring in his step...only to turn around and walk right back out.

_There she is again, clinging to buchou like he's her lifeline_. _Like honestly_, Ryoma fumed, _it's so obvious he doesn't like her, so why is she always with him?_

As he took a step out of the court, he was called back by the last voice he wanted to hear that afternoon. "Echizen, get back here. Already skipping out of practice the first day?"

Ryoma stiffened and turned to face Tezuka. "Buchou." he nodded curtly and continued walking.

"You did not answer me, Echizen. Where were you going?"

"Oh, nothing. I just wanted to take a break from the rabu-rabu (lovey-dovey) atmosphere that a certain couple was creating. Nothing too big," Ryoma replied dryly.

"Couple?" Tezuka seemed genuinely confused, causing Ryoma to fire up in frustration.

"There is no way, buchou, that you do not know what I'm talking about," he hissed.

Sakuno intervened with a furious reprimand. "No one talks to Tezuka-senpai like that. Apologize right now!"

"You-" Ryoma opened his mouth to retort, but Fuji and Momoshiro took the chance to fling their arms onto Ryoma's back, leaning on him heavily.

"My, my," Fuji said with his usual smile. Was it just his imagination, Ryoma thought, or did the smiling tensai have a dangerous undertone in his voice again?

Momoshiro continued loudly. "Someone's being an annoying prince of denseness again!"

Fortunately or unfortunately, Ryoma was not dense enough to not know who they were referring to. "Senpai-tachi, you're wrong."

Fuji raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What makes you say that?"

Ryoma scoffed. "If you say I'm the prince of denseness, then buchou must be the _king_."

Tezuka was silent, but the girl by his side bristled with anger at Ryoma's rude comment. "Echizen-san! Apologize!" she demanded.

"He deserves the title. He obviously doesn't care for you as much as you do about him."

"And what do you care? It's none of your business!"

"Oh, please. You two are the worst couple ever. Really, Ryuzaki, you could do way better."

He really looked at Sakuno for the first time now, and was surprised to see her gaze locked on the ground. "Ryuzaki...?" he asked tentatively.

"You're right." she said bitterly.

"...wait. What?"

"I said, you're right." Sakuno flung her head back up so it was level with Ryoma's eyes, her flashing, and shot every next word at him like an archer with his arrows. "I can do better. I should do better. Because I never should have fallen in love with YOU in the first place!"

…

...

_WHAT?_

Pindrop silence.

Ryoma's face was pure white with shock. _I thought she hated me!_

Ryoma wasn't the only one. Tezuka stared at her like he did not believe she could ever get so angry or impulsive. For once, the stoic captain actually had a hint of astonishment on his face.

Fuji and Momoshiro were the only ones who did not turn a hair. Grinning widely, they stared at Ryoma, wondering how he was going to react.

Much to their surprise, however, Sakuno's face suddenly reddened to the color of a blood orange. Before anyone could call out her name, she turned and sprinted to the girls' locker room, covering her face with her hands. One could guess that she was either going to be hyperventilating with embarrassment or crying in agony. Or maybe both. Probably both.

Ryoma, not having any idea what to do in this situation, simply stood there, rooted to the ground in astonishment.

"You idiot! What are you doing, just standing there? Go after her!" Momoshiro yelled.

"But...I thought...Ryuzaki and Tezuka-buchou..." Ryoma stuttered.

"No, Echizen." Tezuka spoke. "Sakuno-san and I are most definitely _not _a couple. When she was little, Coach Ryuzaki used to have to travel all the time, when she was coaching a national-level team. During those times, I used to take care of her. She's like a little sister to me."

Ryoma's ears rang, his vision on the verge of stars.

Missing the date, acting irrationally, calling her and buchou names.

How could he have been such a moron? And so ridiculously oblivious?

It was _his _fault all this time. Not hers.

_I am such an idiot!_

He saw red when he saw Fuji and Tezuka and (especially) Horio dancing with Sakuno, and he did miss her when she wasn't talking to him or being her sweet, innocent self.

A crush? No way. This was _way _more than just a crush.

He was in love with Ryuzaki Sakuno.

What the hell?

"Ano..."

"Go after her!" Momoshiro yelled.

"What do I say..."

"Just GO!" Even the patient tensai could not bear to have this conversation go on a moment longer.

"Fuji-senpai-"

"Echizen, go now or else I'll make you run laps for the rest of your _life._" Tezuka thundered.

_Fine, _Ryoma thought as he began running. _Easy for you to say._

Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. He grinned and turned around. "Actually, Tezuka-buchou, could you give me three hundred laps, please?"

"What?" Though Tezuka's voice was level, his eyes widened slightly and he stared at Ryoma incredulously.

"A certain senpai promised me he would run them for me for the next three weeks..." Ryoma gave the suddenly-not-so-smiling Fuji a mischievous grin, turned, and ran in the direction Sakuno went.

"Damn it, he remembered. Oh well."

"Echizen would never forget something like that!" Momoshiro laughed. "I wonder what will happen in there..."

"What do you mean, you wonder?" Fuji smiled at Momoshiro, winking.

"Oh, right." Momoshiro nodded, and he followed Fuji in retracing Ryoma's steps.

"Fuji." Tezuka's stern voice had Momoshiro frozen mid-step, but Fuji relaxedly turned and faced his classmate.

"Yeah, Tezuka?" the tensai's eyes twinkled.

"You have three hundred laps. Apparently."

Fuji could see that even Tezuka was slightly confused by the situation, and took advantage of that. "Tezuka, forget the laps for now. What about Sakuno-chan?"

There ensued the battle of the century: team captain vs. older brother figure. Everyone could practically see sparks flying between Tezuka's stern outside and his inner kindness. Finally, the team-captain-Tezuka surrendered. _All right, all right. You win._"Let's go."

"Yatta!" Kikumaru (who suddenly appeared out of nowhere) and Momoshiro cheered, and off they all went.

* * *

Ryoma managed to sprint all the way to the girls locker room, but came to an abrupt halt when he was standing right outside._ What if there are other girls in there?_

_Of course there won't be other girls, you idiot, _said another voice in his head, randomly. _Ryuzaki would never willingly go into a crowded place if she's embarrassed._

_OK, but, what do I say?_

_She's not going to reject you, you baka! Just tell her the truth!_

_Demo..._Ryoma's face began to get hot, like someone set fire to it, and his palms began to sweat like there was no tomorrow.

_Just get in, you idiot!_

_Fine, fine, retarded other voice in my brain._ Ryoma began to slowly walk towards the girls' locker room, dreading what was going to happen inside. _Mou, I've never been so nervous before...what's wrong with me?_

_Too many things to count._

_Stupid voice, shut up and get out of my head!_

_Fine. Get in already!_

Suddenly, in sync with the the voice's "_Get in!_" came a real kick that had Ryoma flying through the air straight through the locker room door. _Iteee!_ He turned around and glared at Momoshiro and Kikumaru, who were on the ground, a literal example of "rolling on the floor laughing." _You guys are so getting it later_.

Somehow, Sakuno didn't hear his not-so-grand entrance. He heard her choke back a sob and started to feel a bit guilty. _I was so mean to her..._

Sakuno, leaning against one of the locker doors with her back to him, began to prattle to herself, "Oh, god, what have I done? Things are going to be so awkward now! Why did I have to say that..._why..._"

Ryoma stared. _She thinks _she's_ nervous?_

While Sakuno continued to blabber to herself, Ryoma stood up, dusted himself off, restrained himself from shooting another death glare at the entire team outside, and cleared his throat. Sakuno froze.

"Wh-what are you doing here?"

"Ano..." Once again, Echizen Ryoma was speechless. "I came here to...get away from those guys..." he said, trying to stall for time.

She turned away to hide her reddening face. "Go away. You shouldn't be here!"

"Ryuzaki, wait."

She turned and looked at him out of the corner of her eyes. "Wh-what do you want?"

Ryoma drew a deep breath. "So, I'm guessing we're both a bit weirded out by what just happened..."

Obviously not the right thing to say. "And whose fault is that!" Sakuno turned and glared at him. "Why did it have to be you...I'd rather it be _anyone_ else...why you? You keep leading me on and breaking my heart and I hate it! I wish I could just _stop_! Go away. I'm feeling bad enough without you being here and making it worse."

Ryoma sighed. _God, can't I do anything right?_"Ryuzaki, listen-"

"Look, stop it. Don't make me hope that you care when I know you don't."

Ryoma thought he heard a bang on the window-he did not want to know who or what had made that noise. But again, he felt like he had been slapped. _Retarded other voice, you said I wouldn't be rejected!_

_You haven't even said anything yet, you moron!_

_I'm going to get shot down and I know it! Why do I even bother? _He turned to go out the door.

_You have nothing to lose. Just go for it! You may never have another chance._

Very true. Would he even be able to look her in the eye after this, let alone confess? _Yadda._

It was now or never. He went with the former.

_I guess. But...I don't want her to see my face..._he thought, his face becoming even redder than hers. Pulling his cap down and backing up to the other side of the locker door on which Sakuno was leaning, he leaned against the other end. They were so close now that he could hear the tinkling of her earrings.

Sakuno had no idea what happened, but the next thing she knew, she was practically back-to-back with Ryoma. The slight pressure sent a jolt through her body. _What's he doing?_

He drew another deep breath. "Look, Ryuzaki. I'm sorry. Nothing I say ever comes out right. I only meant that...what you said...shocked me a little. You don't weird me out or anything."

Sakuno's heart began to beat faster. _Where's he going with this?_

"I thought for a bit and I kinda realized that it wasn't you who was doing anything wrong, it was me. I'm an idiot, I know. And you're right, you could do better. But about what you said about me...and you..." his voice dropped to a whisper and he began reddening even more, "I just wanted to tell you that...I...I do too."

_Wait, what? _Sakuno's heart soared. _I thought...wait a minute...am I dreaming?_

"What?"

"I was wondering if...you could give me another chance? I swear to never miss another appointment again..." At this point, Ryoma had never felt more nervous in his entire life. And Echizen Ryoma _never _gets nervous. _Great, now I'm sounding all sappy like that vampire from Twilight that Nanako's been raving about all week. Man, what's she going to say now?_

He braced himself for the rejection. After all, he had treated her so badly.

"Wait..." Sakuno asked hesitantly. "D-did you just say...what I thought you did?"

"What do you think I said?"

Now it was Sakuno's turn to flush. "Did you just say...that...you...like me too?"

Ryoma resisted rolling his eyes and shooting back something sarcastic. Instead, he tried to make his reply as sincere as possible without sounding too cheesy. "Hai."

Much to his surprise, Sakuno almost giggled. "Ryoma-kun, you don't sound like yourself at all."

_Wow. I give you a speech like that and that's all you say? Good to know. Not. _"Wow, thanks." He was about to make another dry remark when Sakuno took his hand and intertwined her fingers with his. In his astonished and happy relief, he could find no words to say. Not that he wanted to.

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting for you to say that. I never liked Tezuka-senpai, he's like a brother to me. It's always been you, this whole time. I don't think that will ever change."

_See? I told you you wouldn't be rejected!_

_Get out of here, you stupid voice. Leave us alone._

"Um...thanks. You have no idea what a relief that is." He hoped she couldn't feel how fast his heart was racing, because it was faster than the speed of a tennis ball being hit with Kawamura's Hadoukyuu. She relaxed her grip in case he wanted to pull away, but he just held on tighter. _Don't let go..._

"So..." Ryoma began.

"So?" Sakuno prodded him, hopeful.

Ryoma reddened further; boy, was he glad that Sakuno couldn't see his face now. "Could we...well...start over, then?"

"What do you mean? There's nothing to start over."

_WHAT? What's she saying? _Ryoma began to have another panic attack.

"Ryoma-kun, stop-listen." Sakuno turned around and squeezed Ryoma's hand to make him stop freaking out. "Listen. I'm just saying no because...well, nothing really ever happened. And I'm serious. We've never dated for real or were ever like _this_," she gestured with her free hand at their positions and their intertwined fingers. "So, we're not starting over. Because nothing ever ended. Here and now-our story still has to happen. This is just the beginning."

Ryoma just nodded, pulling his cap down further. He whispered, "Sakuno..."

She blushed at his use of her first name. "Yeah?"

"Two things. First, drop the honorific and just call me Ryoma. You don't need to be so formal with me anymore."

"Hai...Ryoma." she smiled. "What's the other thing?"

"Uh...you do know all the senpais are right outside, right?"

"WHAT?" Sakuno pulled her hand out of his grasp. "Mou, I bet they heard everything!"

As if on cue, the rest of the tennis team, regulars or not, poured into the girls' locker room. Not too surprisingly, Kikumaru shouted over the rampage, "OCHIBI, YOU DID IT!"

Momoshiro yelled at the same time, "WOOHOO! YATTA NA ECHIZEN!"

Inui, after the two outbursts by Kikumaru and Momoshiro, whipped out his notebook with a grin and his trademark, "Good data..."

Ryoma rolled his eyes, but looked over, and seeing his new girlfriend's scarlet face, gave her a rare smile, took her hand again, and tightened his hold on it in reassurance. _I'm here, don't worry_. She smiled at the tiny gesture, but blushed even more. She saw Kawamura looking at them with a lopsided grin, and sent him the SOS pleading look. He got the message, and immediately began shoving everyone out of the locker room.

"Come on, guys, let's get out! We're in the _girls'_locker room!"

At first everyone was hesitant, but after hearing _that_, many of the boys turned red with embarrassment and dashed out, tripping over themselves in their haste.

The remaining boys (mainly regulars) who just stood there smiling were chased out by Inui, who threatened to give them massive doses of his Version 2.0 Mega Triple Special Deluxe Improved Inui Juice. Sakuno giggled at the dust cloud that followed the scurrying boys.

Fuji and Tezuka stood outside, looking in towards the newfound couple, both smiling. Fuji raised an eyebrow. "Tezuka," he said.

"Hn?" the captain gave an absentminded grunt.

"You're _smiling_."

Tezuka immediately pulled the corners of his lips back into their usual flat alignment and coughed. "I am merely expressing my happiness for Sakuno-san."

"And I suppose you will let Echizen off the hook for everything from now on if it concerns Sakuno-chan?"

Tezuka turned away from Fuji, looking back towards Sakuno and Ryoma. Now that the rest of the team had disappeared, they were now feeling more comfortable and were just talking while still holding hands, occasionally laughing. _I haven't seen either of them so happy in such a long time, especially Echizen..._he smiled again. Ryoma was actually smiling and chuckling at what Sakuno was saying, and Sakuno appeared to be the epitome of joy. Both looked...absolutely complete.

"Well, normally I would give Echizen laps," he mused, "considering how much practice he's missed and disturbed. But since someone else has to run them instead..."

He turned back to his partner, who...had escaped. Tezuka chuckled and let it go, walking outside, but stopped right outside the locker room; his interest was roused as he overheard the couple's conversation.

"So..." Ryoma glanced at his girlfriend. He noticed that her hair, instead of the usual pigtails, was pulled over her face into a sort of half-ponytail. He cautiously lifted his other hand and fingered the silky auburn curls. Sakuno's face turned a bit pink, but she shyly smiled nevertheless. "Ne, why'd you cut your hair?"

"Why? Does it look horrible?" _Why would he ask me that?_Now, it was her turn to have a panic attack (big surprise). Ryoma grinned and returned the favor from before, squeezing her hand to calm her down.

"No, no, it looks fine. Much better than before, actually. But why'd you choose to cut it now?"

She reddened a bit further before replying, "W-well, you said it was too long..."

"Wait..." Ryoma took a moment to process this. "You cut it...because I asked you to?"

Sakuno turned away to hide her smile (and her crimson face) and replied, "Mada mada da ne, Ryoma..."

Despite the fact that the temperature of the locker room suddenly seemed to increase by about a hundred degrees, Ryoma could not help feeling a small sense of pride along with an overflow of pure happiness, despite the fact that she had stolen his line. _She cut her hair because _I_ said it was too long...she did it because _I_ asked her to..._

Tezuka smiled broadly now that Fuji wasn't nearby. Clearly, helping Sakuno and Ryoma get together was one of the best things he could have done for both of them. Leaving the two alone, he chose to walk back to the courts instead. Giving one last glance towards his two favorite kouhai, he thought warmly, _I wish you two the best of luck_.

And so their story begins...


	14. Special! Epilogue Part I

**One Day Later**

"OK, everyone, practice is over. Get ready to train hard tomorrow as well. Yu dan sezu ikou." As tennis practice ended, all the regulars sprinted over to their bags to get out whatever drink they preferred, be it water or Ponta or Inui Juice (you can guess who _those _people were…)

Ryoma, however, was not among the group that made a bolt for their favorite drinks. Instead, he grabbed his bag and walked out of the court.

"Hey, Echizen! Where are you headed?"

"Nowhere." Ryoma yelled without looking back and left.

Of course, Momoshiro and Kikumaru didn't leave it at that! They followed him secretly and saw him walking over to Sakuno, who was waiting for him with a smile. After exchanging greetings, the two began walking out. This time, however, Ryoma slowed down for Sakuno, so she didn't have to catch up to him.

"Oh, _that's _why," Momoshiro laughed. "So young, so young…"

"Awww, our Ochibi's all grown up!" Kikumaru faked tearing while Momoshiro laughed some more.

"Don't laugh too hard, Momo," Fuji suddenly appeared behind them with a smile. "Don't think I didn't find out your little _secret_ at the dance."

"Fuji-senpai!" Momoshiro yelled and reddened.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ryoma and Sakuno walked in comfortable silence, neither caring to talk. Sakuno could not stop smiling, and Ryoma smiled when he saw how happy she was.

They finally reached her place. "Thanks for walking me home, Ryoma." Sakuno smiled.

"Betsuni." He tugged his cap down to hide his blush.

"Well, I guess I'll see you at school on Monday then." She waved and was about to go inside when Ryoma suddenly grabbed her wrist. "Hai?"

"Hey, are you doing anything tomorrow?" He had no idea what made him ask her that. Oh well, too late to take it back.

"N-no? Why?"

"Do you want to go somewhere?"

Sakuno reddened almost immediately and could find no words to say at first. Oh, how she wished she could be like Ann and just say, "It's a date! Just tell me when and where!"

"S-sure. What time and where?"

"Hmmm…meet me at the station at eleven. Don't eat lunch." Ryoma smirked and let go of her wrist.

"OK then, see you then, Ryoma!" Sakuno waved and blindly ran into her house and upstairs into her room. She opened the curtains of her bay window and looked down towards the front of her house to watch Ryoma walking away.

Boy, was she shocked to see Ryoma still standing there, and worse, looking up in her direction! He raised an eyebrow and smirked at her, before giving her a wave through the window and walking off.

Sakuno reddened before closing the curtains and leaning against the window frame, heart beating wildly and eyes wide as saucers. "Ryoma…" _HE JUST ASKED ME OUT! THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER!_

However, by the next day at 10:15, Sakuno was frantic with worry. "What do I wear?" She thought of calling Tomoka, but decided against it once she realized _what_ Tomoka would make her wear. Reddening at the thought of wearing clothes that showed more than a little skin, she thought about calling Ann, but decided against that too, because Ann was famous for being a not-very-early riser.

"Uggh!" She mussed up her hair and looked through her wardrobe. "I'll just pull out something that everyone would approve of." She pulled out a pair of dark denim flare jeans that Tomoka had picked out for her, a dark purple shirt that Ann had chosen, and a pair of purple converse. Thankfully, the jeans had come with a matching short jacket, so she wouldn't be cold or self-conscious either.

Looking at the clock, she found that it was 10:30. "Mou, I'm going to be late!" Pulling on the clothes she had picked out, she hastily ran a comb through her hair. "No time to put it up, I'll just leave it down."

Grabbing her purse, she yelled a quick, "Obaa-chan, see you later!" and ran out of the house and down to the station. In fact, she was so focused on getting to her destination that she didn't even get lost. "Mou, I'm late…"

* * *

(A couple hours earlier)

"Hey, Echizen! Wanna play a match?" Momoshiro asked his favorite kouhai, giving him a grin.

"Sure."

They played for about an hour, using all their signature moves. Ryoma looked at his watch every few minutes, not wanting to be late for his date and making Sakuno think that he had stood her up, again.

"Why are you looking at your watch so often?" Momoshiro asked.

"I have to leave in five minutes." Ryoma replied, smashing the ball.

"Why? You never leave in the middle of a match!"

"I have a date."

Momoshiro froze, Ryoma's ball hitting him in the face. He rubbed the affected spot and stared at his kouhai. "Sorry, what? Did you just say you have a _date?_"

"Mada mada da ne, Momo-senpai." Ryoma smirked in reply.

Rather than the teasing and the "YATTA NA ECHIZEN!" that Ryoma had expected from Momoshiro, he found that the latter looked rather nervous. "Doushita no?"

"Echizen, where are you taking her?"

Ryoma was slightly taken aback by this question. _Why does he care? _It then dawned upon him. _Oh, he and the rest of the regulars are probably going to stalk us. Better give him a different place._ "Oh, to Kawamura-senpai's sushi shop." He was a natural liar, so Momoshiro bought it.

"Oh, good to know. Have fun, Echizen!" Momoshiro replied, plastering a very fake smile onto his face.

"Umm…OK? Jaa ne, Momo-senpai." Ryoma waved and left after packing up. _What's up with him?_

As soon as Ryoma was out of earshot, Momoshiro heaved a sigh of relief. "Oh, phew. We're definitely not going to go there then."

* * *

"Kami-sama, please don't make her think I stood her up again…" Ryoma panicked as he sprinted towards the train station after getting ready. When he finally got there, she was nowhere to be seen. _Wait, so is she not here yet or did she leave?_

He checked the time. "No, I'm not late…where is she?"

"Ryoma!" He turned to find Sakuno running towards him, panting as she slowed to a stop. As she caught her breath and stood up, a gust of wind blew her let-loose hair out of her face.

_Whoa…_he stared. Sakuno's appearance definitely did not disappoint. Her haircut made her look prettier than ever, and her clothes definitely contributed as well.

"Gomennasai, Ryoma-kun. Did you wait long?"

"Nah, not really. And what did I tell you about the honorific?" He smirked.

"Right…so where do you want to go? Shall we head for Kawamura-senpai's sushi shop?"

"Nope, the senpai-tachi are going to be there. That's where I told Momo-senpai we were going, so let's go somewhere else to avoid them. There's this new food court next to the amusement park, want to go there?"

"Sure, sounds good!" Sakuno smiled, making Ryoma once again notice how beautiful she could look when she tried. He tugged his cap down.

"Cool, let's go."

As they began walking silently, Sakuno frantically searched for a topic of interest. _Tennis is the only thing that gets him interested, might as well…_

"Ryoma, when's your next game?"

"Next week. We're playing the Monkey King." He rolled his eyes.

She giggled. "Oh, so Hyotei? You think you'll win?"

"Of course I'll win."

She giggled a little. _Ryoma will never change._ Before she could say something else, however, Ryoma spoke, remembering the advice Nanako had given him for his date about asking about _her _and not just blabbering on and on about himself.

"How's your tennis coming along?"

She paused. "Fairly well, I guess."

He smirked. "I _told_ you cutting your hair would be the smartest thing you ever did."

"Ryoma! My hair's got nothing to do with it!"

"Mada mada da ne, Sakuno."

"Mou, when are you going to stop making fun of my hair?"

"When pigs fly and buchou laughs at something."

"Tezuka-buchou never laughs!"

"My point exactly."

"Mou, Ryoma…" Sakuno laughed. Suddenly, she felt very comfortable talking to him and didn't stutter even once. _Kudos to me!_

Ryoma tugged his cap down to hide his grin. He was actually having a good time. "Come on, we're here. You haven't eaten, right?"

"You told me not to."

"Hn." They walked inside.

"Wow, this place is beautiful…" Sakuno looked around and took in the pleasant, rather professional ambiance. Ryoma had called it a food court, but it looked more like a legit restaurant. Not fancy and formal, but definitely not cheap. Each table had a lantern at the top, and the glasses, cloth napkins, and silverware were all elegantly arranged. Sakuno smiled that Ryoma had chosen to take her to such a place. _So he _can_ be sweet…_

Sakuno followed Ryoma over to a booth in the corner, and they sat down. "Ryoma, why'd you pick this place? It looks pretty…expensive…" Sakuno asked hesitantly.

"I owe you for that other time." was his curt reply. Sakuno understood in a flash that he wanted to make up for missing their tennis practice.

"Mou, I already forgave you for that…"

"Che, whatever." Meaning, of course, "It's useless to argue with me, so give up already."

A waiter came by and handed them each a menu before Sakuno could reply.

"Wow, there are so many options here…" While she was reading her menu, Sakuno absentmindedly picked up one of the plastic chopsticks near her napkin and twirled it around her fingers, trying to choose from the many different entrees that came from around the world.

Ryoma had already decided what he wanted, and was waiting for his girlfriend to pick.

He noticed her twirling her chopstick and stared. _Now how do you do that? _Picking up one of his own, he tried to twirl it around his own fingers but failed miserably. Trying again, he dropped it on his knife, causing a slight "Ting!" sound, but thankfully Sakuno didn't notice.

Trying yet again, he promptly succeeded in flicking his chopstick over to the next empty table, hitting the glass on it and knocking it over, causing the glass to hit against the silverware and creating a reverberating sound that seemed to echo throughout the entire restaurant (because it was _that _quiet).

Sakuno looked up in surprise, and when she saw Ryoma's red face, the fallen glass, and the chopstick next to it, she gave him a questioning look. "What happened?"

"Betsuni." Ryoma leaned over and grabbed his chopstick from the other table. "How do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"The thing with your chopstick."

"Oh, this?" Sakuno lifted up her chopstick and twirled it once, elegantly.

"Yes, that." Ryoma lifted up his own and tried to twirl it, but once again failed. Sakuno smiled.

"See, you're holding it wrong." She reached over and corrected his hold on the chopstick, causing him to stiffen slightly at the contact. As she continued coaching him through the chopstick-twirling, he was reminded of the several times that he had corrected her grip on her tennis racket, and felt a strong sense of déjà vu. _The roles have switched…how scary…_

"Oh, and while you're at it, your knees are too bent, you have wobbly hips, and your hair is too long." Sakuno finished, mimicking Ryoma's voice and his trademark smirk.

Ryoma grinned back. "My girlfriend stealing my lines, eh?"

"Hey, you asked for it."

He finally twirled it as elegantly as Sakuno could. "Mada mada da ne."

"Same to you!"

"Hn." He smirked.

"May I take your order?" asked another waiter who had just made his way over to their table.

"Hmm…" Sakuno stared again at the menu. She whispered to Ryoma, "Are crepes good?"

"Yeah, they're not bad."

"Ano…I'll have a pesto crepe." Sakuno said to the waiter, who then turned to Ryoma.

"One order of onigiri."

The waiter wrote down his order. "Anything to drink?"

"Ponta." Ryoma and Sakuno both said simultaneously.

"Thank you. Your order will arrive shortly."

As soon as the waiter walked away, Sakuno stared at her plate, trying to think of something else to talk about. She seized upon the first topic that came to mind. "Ryoma…what kind of music do you listen to?"

After the words came out of her mouth, she realized what she had just asked. _What if he accuses me of being talkative again? _"Ano…forget I asked…"

"J-Pop is good." he replied.

"Oh, really? What are your favorites?"

"Hmmm…Fujita Maiko and AKB48 are probably my favorites."

"Really? I love Fujita Maiko! She's so good!"

"Hn," Ryoma grinned in reply. _Cool, now I know what to do with that extra ticket._ "What else do you like?"

"Mm…Mamoru Miyano and Oku Hanako."

"Hn." Another awkward silence passed by. Sakuno tried to think of another topic but Ryoma broke the ice. "What's your favorite subject?"

"What?"

"Like, I know your worst is English," he smirked, "but what's your best?"

"Hmm…I like Japanese and science. What about you?"

"I agree with you on science, but how can you like Japanese?"

"It's…it's pretty easy…"

"Maybe for you." Ryoma tugged his cap down while Sakuno raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, so Japanese is Ryoma's worst subject?"

"Mada mada da ne." he replied, to which Sakuno giggled. _So Ryoma uses his catchphrase when he's embarrassed. Good to know._

In the meantime, Ryoma bent down and stared at the table, trying to hide his smile. Sakuno was turning out to be a lot more interesting than he had expected, and she wasn't stuttering at all today.

Cautiously, he glanced up and met her eyes. She suddenly stared behind him, however, and much to his surprise, she grabbed her purse and covered the left side of her face with it.

"What are you doing?" he asked her, frowning a little out of curiosity.

"Kimiko-senpai and Sanada-senpai, three o' clock."

"What?" Ryoma turned to his right and saw the two Rikkadai third-years sitting at a booth a few feet away. "Crap…" Grabbing the other end of Sakuno's purse, he also hid his face behind it, so that their faces were almost an inch apart, but not before Kimiko had turned and noticed them.

"Sakuno-chan!" She ran over to their table. "What were you two doing behind that purse? You're too young for that!"

"Kimiko-senpai!" Sakuno reddened furiously, bringing her face out from behind the purse. "We-we weren't doing anything!"

"Right…" Kimiko laughed and squeezed into Sakuno's part of the booth, while Sanada, seeing no other choice, got in next to Ryoma, who looked thoroughly annoyed by the new arrangement.

"So, Echizen, are you two on a date?" Sanada asked Ryoma.

"No, Sakuno and I are celebrating her ninetieth birthday," Ryoma replied dryly. "Mada mada desu ne."

Kimiko laughed and Sakuno raised an eyebrow. _Ninetieth birthday?_

"Sakuno! Kimiko-senpai!" The two girls turned towards the door to find Tachibana Ann walking in and giving them a grin.

"Ann-chan!" They slid out of the booth, ran over to her, and the three did a group hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I just came here with…where is he?" Ann looked around for her boyfriend, only to find him standing outside the door. "Takeshi-kun, why are you standing outside? Come in!"

"Ann, why don't we go somewhere else…" Momoshiro asked nervously.

"Nonsense, come inside already!" She grabbed his wrist and pulled him in, and they all went back over to Sakuno and Ryoma's booth. Momoshiro and Sanada looked thoroughly shocked to see one another there, but that was _nothing _on the shock that Ryoma had to see Momoshiro there.

"Sanada-san…you and Moriyama-san are together?" Momoshiro stuttered.

"Come on, Takeshi-kun, that's old news!" Ann laughed.

Ryoma stared. "Takeshi-_kun?_ Tachibana, you're with Momo-senpai?"

Now it was Sakuno's turn to laugh. "Come on, Ryoma, that's old news!"

Momoshiro and Ryoma sweatdropped. _OK…_

An squeezed in next to Kimiko and Sakuno, and Momoshiro sat down next to Sanada and Ryoma. _So much for avoiding Echizen today…I thought he said he was going to Kawamura-senpai's sushi shop!_

"So…Ryuzaki-chan…how are you and Ann and Moriyama-senpai so up-to-date on the gossip at every single school?" Momoshiro asked, laughing a little to alleviate the tension.

Ann raised an eyebrow. "Oh, we have our sources, Takeshi-kun. Like we know deep, dark secrets that others would _die _to know." She gave Sakuno and Kimiko a secret wink, and the two understood immediately what she had in mind. "For example, your Tezuka-senpai is dating the captain of a certain girls' team."

"No way…_buchou?_" Ryoma asked, his jaw dropping. "Are you sure?"

"Positive." Kimiko grinned. "And Tachibana-san is seeing a girl from Yamabuki who's not on the tennis team…her name was Takara, I think…"

"_Tachibana?_ Really?" Momoshiro asked, shocked.

"And Oishi-senpai's dating an American transfer student who goes to Hyotei, Ryoma." Sakuno smiled, causing her boyfriend to reel with shock.

"Right, and Sakuno's obaa-chan is a foreign spy from Venezuela," Ann remarked with a grin, causing the boys to get a little wary.

"Kikumaru-senpai's father used to be a professional underwater basket-weaver," Sakuno giggled.

"And finally, Fuji-san is a mermaid." Kimiko finished.

"_What?_" Ryoma and Momoshiro spluttered, while Sanada chuckled a little, having guessed what his girlfriend was up to. "Hey, you tricked us!"

Sakuno replied with, "Mada mada da ne," Ann with, "Don!", and Kimiko with "Tarundoru!", causing all three girls to laugh hysterically and the boys to glare (except Sanada, who just stared at them all, unsure whether his companions were completely sane or not).

"One pesto crepe, one order of onigiri, and two Pontas…" The waiter who came over seemed shocked to see six people at the table. "Are the rest of you with these two?" he asked, gesturing to Ryoma and Sakuno.

"No, they're not." Ryoma glared at everyone else, causing Sakuno to giggle and Momoshiro to reply, "Hey, that's not the right way to treat your senpai!"

"But yes, let's leave these two lovebirds alone," Ann smirked. "See you guys later!"

"Yeah!" Sakuno smiled at her friends, and the other two couples walked off, leaving Ryoma and Sakuno to begin eating as the waiter walked away. Ryoma was feeling pretty pissed, but he looked up and saw that Sakuno had a genuine smile on her face, and he smiled slightly. _ At least one of us is having fun…_

* * *

"Well, that was a fiasco. Next time we do this, I'm going to personally make sure that we're alone," Ryoma muttered as he was walking Sakuno back to her house.

"Why? Ryoma didn't have fun?" Sakuno smiled innocently, to which Ryoma first glared, but then smirked back.

"Well, it was pretty fun before all those other bakas came along. And now I have something to blackmail Momo-senpai with." he replied, not losing the smirk. "So, when do you want to do this again?"

Sakuno reddened a little bit. _He wants to see me again! _"Are you doing anything tomorrow? We can play some tennis, if you want."

"Works for me." He tugged his cap down.

When they finally reached her house, Sakuno turned and smiled at her boyfriend. "Domo arigato, Ryoma. I had fun."

"That makes one of us," he smirked.

"Ano…I'll see you tomorrow." Impulsively she leaned over, kissed him on the cheek, and turned and sprinted back into her house out of embarrassment. _Mou! What did I do that for?_

Once again, she ran up to her room and peeked out of the curtains of her windows. Looking down, she saw Ryoma hold one hand up to his cheek and redden slightly. He looked up towards her window, prompting her to open the curtains. When he saw her, he gave her a rare smile and waved before walking away.

That night, the only thing our two favorite Seigaku freshmen thought was, "Today was the best day ever!"


	15. Special! Epilogue Part II

Disclaimer: Once again, we do not own POT. Though we totally wish we did. Don't we all? :D

Nor do we own any of the songs mentioned in this chapter or any of the songs we used as song titles. Though we wish we own those too. Most of them, at least.

If it's not clear, Ryoma and Sakuno are both in HIGH SCHOOL from the beginning of the story, not middle school. So they're both about sixteen years old.

Another thing: to any Justin Bieber lover who's reading this, we do NOT intend to hate on him. This is just what we think Ryoma would think about him. We have nothing against him, we swear.

OK, on with the story.

**(Two months later)**

"Lunchtime!" Tomoka sang as she danced out of the classroom, dragging Sakuno with her. "Come on, Sakuno, move it! You're slower than a snail!"

"Matte, Tomo-chan, I need to wait for…"

"Yeah, yeah, you have to wait for that _boyfriend _of yours," Tomoka pouted. "I still can't believe you, of all people, got a boyfriend before me, and it's _Ryoma-sama_ you're dating!"

Sakuno couldn't help smiling even as she asked, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Besides, Osakada," called Horio from a distance, "who'd want to date _you_?"

"Try saying that again, unibrow-head…"

"Oi, Sakuno." Said girl took her eyes off of Tomoka, who was shaking her fist as threateningly as possible at the moment, to find the tennis prince waiting for her with a smile.

_What's he smiling for?_ she wondered as she walked over to him, leaving Tomoka and Horio to begin their flirti-_ahem_-argument of the day.

"Ryoma? That's weird…you're smiling…" She gave him a questioning look.

"Mada mada da ne. What, you thought I wasn't capable of smiling?" he deadpanned, to which her face turned a bit pink.

"I-I didn't mean that…it's just that you never smile without a reason…"

"That's because I _do _have a reason."

"Eh? What's that?"

"Come with me to the rooftop, I want to show you something." he said abruptly.

"Eh?" she said again. "Right now?"

"No, let's wait until your ninetieth birthday. Yes, now," he rolled his eyes but proceeded to grab her hand and drag her over to the stairs leading to the rooftop.

_What's with him and my ninetieth birthday? _Sakuno giggled as she unsuccessfully tried to pull her hand out of his grasp. "Mou, Ryoma, l-let go of my hand!"

"Yadda."

He continued to drag her up the stairs, and pushed the door open. It wasn't until they had both sat down and opened their bento boxes that he let go of her hand to pull something out of his pocket.

"Here." He pulled two slips of paper out of his pocket and handed them to her. "Check out where we're going this weekend."

When Sakuno saw the slips of paper, her jaw dropped. "Ryoma…" she breathed, "this is…this is…" she waved her hands around to show her amazement.

"This is…?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Absolutely amazing!" Sakuno burst out finally. "I can't believe you got tickets to the Fujita Maiko concert! It must have been so hard to get these!" Her eyes shone with her excitement.

He hid the pride he felt at her praise, instead replying nonchalantly, "Che, it was easy. I just had to blackmail my stupid oyaji into giving me enough money."

"Hah? You blackmailed your dad? What did he do?"

"That's classified information." Ryoma smirked when he saw the expression on Sakuno's face, which couldn't seem to decide between being dumbfounded, scandalized, curious, and slightly amused.

She settled on curious. "Tell me! I won't tell anyone!"

"Yadda."

"Why not?"

"It's embarrassing."

"Isn't that the whole point?"

"No, this is pretty bad, even for Oyaji. I'm still waiting for the day when I can deny that he was ever related to me." _Heh, that'd be the day…stupid Oyaji with his stupid magazines and his stupid perverted thoughts, out of my life forever…_

"Oh come on, you can't hate your father." Sakuno chided him, but giggled nonetheless. Her boyfriend would never cease to make her laugh. "First you're blackmailing Momo-senpai about Ann-chan, and now this. Who got you into the habit of blackmailing, anyway?"

_Fuji-senpai…_he thought with a grin. "So? Can you make it?" he asked her, pointedly changing the topic. _That_ could be discussed another day.

"Yes, yes, yes! Even if I had something, I would cancel it!" Sakuno exclaimed happily. "I would never pass up a chance to go see Fujita Maiko live, and with _you!_ Thank you so much, Ryoma!" She leaned over and gave her boyfriend a sudden hug, before realizing what she was doing and pulling away just as abruptly. Blushing furiously, she stammered, "O-oh! I-I'm sorry…"

"Why? I'm not." he smirked as he pulled her in for another hug, and Sakuno's blush grew tenfold. It looked like she had yet to get used to the whole boyfriend-girlfriend thing. Oh, well.

He let go about five seconds later. "Besides, the way you responded, it sounded like I'd just proposed to you."

"Ryoma!" Sakuno shrieked, her face turning crimson. Ryoma chuckled. They had been dating for about two months, but she still hadn't gotten used to him teasing her, and he _still_ couldn't stop teasing her- it was way too fun.

"Ne, I'm starving, can we eat now?" he asked, deciding it was time to let her calm down a bit.

"S-sure."

Ryoma snapped his chopsticks and began eating after uttering a quick, "Itadakimasu," Sakuno quickly following suit. As she started eating, however, she realized something and turned her head sharply to Ryoma, who gave her a quizzical look. "What?"

"Ryoma, you never did tell me who got you into the habit of blackmailing…" she mused.

He continued to eat. "And you want to know this because…?"

"Well, you're not telling me what your dad did," Sakuno giggled, "but it couldn't possibly hurt to tell me why you like blackmailing people…"

Ryoma sighed in feigned exasperation. "So you want to know who got me into blackmailing."

"Yes!"

"OK, so remember that stupid dance which was about a month and a half ago? The combined one with Seigaku and…Fudomine, I think?"

She nodded and blushed, remembering that crazy night. "Yeah…I was actually wondering what you were doing there…"

"Right, I'm coming to that. So I didn't want to go, but Fuji-senpai had taken a video of me buying the Twilight movie for Nanako, and basically he was going to post it on Facebook or something unless I went to the dance. I was really pissed off with him at the time," Ryoma smirked a little, remembering the thousand or so laps he had made Fuji run to get revenge on him, "but I realized how useful blackmail could be."

Sakuno frowned slightly. "Ryoma, you should stop blackmailing people. It's mean."

"Hey, if it weren't for my blackmailing skills, we wouldn't have the Fujita Maiko tickets. Now stop complaining and finish up so we can get back to class."

Sakuno obliged, sticking her last rice ball into her mouth, but stopped as she realized something else. "Ryoma…did you just tell me that Nanako-san watches _Twilight?_"

"Are you kidding? She was _obsessed _with the movies for about three weeks," Ryoma rolled his eyes. _Please, Kami-sama…please tell me she doesn't like Twilight too…_

Sakuno giggled. "Don't worry Ryoma, I don't like the Twilight movies. I haven't read the books so I don't know how good _they_ are, but the movies are horrible." She wiped her mouth and stood up. "Come on, class is about to start."

_Huh?_ _Wait a minute_... "How did you know what I was thinking?"

"You were talking to yourself." she simply replied, giggling again. "Come _on, _Ryoma, we're going to be late!"

* * *

"Ohayou gozaimasu, Coach," Ryoma nodded at his coach as she welcomed him into her house. "Where's Sakuno?"

"She should be ready in about a minute, so you can go up to her room and see her. You want something to drink first?"

"Sure, thanks." He accepted the Ponta which Sakuno's grandmother gave him; popping it open, he downed about half the contents as Sakuno's grandmother asked him, "So how's the team today?"

"Mada mada da," he replied smugly, to which Sumire raised an eyebrow. "Thanks for the Ponta."

"You're welcome," she replied as Ryoma tossed the empty can into the trash and climbed up the stairs to stand just outside Sakuno's room.

As he waited for his girlfriend to get ready, thinking about random tennis-relating things (A/N: Exactly what else would he be thinking about?), a voice interrupted his thoughts. Strangely, this wasn't some random voice in his head either, but rather, it came from inside Sakuno's room.

"_It's a long road when you face the world alone, no one reaches out a hand for you to hold…_" it sang.

Ryoma blinked. _OK…she's probably listening to music._

Then the voice continued, "_You can find love, if you search within yourself, and the emptiness you felt will disappear…_"

A pause for breath, and strangely no background music. _Wait…that's _her_ singing._

"Mou…where did I put that hairbrush?" her soft voice now made its way to his ears.

The truth suddenly dawned on him. _Wait…she can sing? And…sing songs in _English?_ OK…did not see that coming…_(A/N: Neither did we…o.O)

Two minutes later, she walked out of the room, wearing a Fujita Maiko T-shirt, jeans, and with her curly hair in a high ponytail. "Obaa-chan, is he here yet…" she then turned and saw him. "Ryoma!" she blushed. "How long have you been waiting there?"

"Hmm, five minutes-ish."

_Five minutes? That means…_her face turned pink. _He heard me…_she was so absorbed in her own worried thoughts that she didn't even notice Ryoma waving his hand in front of her face.

"Sakuno? Sakuno. Oi, Ryuzaki!" he suddenly said sharply, causing her to come back to earth.

"Wh-what? Oh, sorry…" she replied, albeit a bit confused. "What time does it start?"

"Five, so we'd better get there. It's already four-thirty."

"OK." She took the hand he offered, followed him downstairs, and yelled a quick goodbye to her grandmother, who told Ryoma something about bringing her back before eleven. He rolled his eyes without her noticing. "Yes, yes, I got it."

Sakuno giggled. "Why is Ryoma so easily annoyed?"

Ryoma avoided her question and came straight to the point as usual_._ "Ne, you never told me you could sing." _She "can sing"? What an understatement._

Sakuno reddened. "Yeah, I like singing, it's fun. I'm not that great though…"

"Right, and Kikumaru-senpai is the quietest man in Japan," Ryoma replied sarcastically. Sakuno's visage colored further as she realized that this was an indirect compliment.

"Th-thank you…"

"Your pronunciation wasn't that bad...it'll help you in English class." he remarked.

"H-hai, that's why I'm trying to learn the song." she replied. "'Hero' is the first English song I'm learning, but I listen to American music a lot."

"Really? What kind?"

"J-just classics. I-I like the songs from Disney animated movies and people like Mariah Carey and Beyoncé."

"Kami-sama, what a relief." he said, wiping imaginary sweat off his forehead.

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"It means you don't have bad taste."

"Meaning…?"

"Hardly any of the new people are any good."

"Like...who's really bad?"

"Hmmm. OK, there's this one guy called Justin Bieber who sounds like a girl, I swear. For some reason, he has a zillion fans all around the globe. You heard of him?"

She shook her head no. "Why is he so popular? There must be _some _reason."

"I think it's his haircut. He always likes to flip his hair in this way that makes his fans scream their heads off in hyper joy." He shuddered. At least that was one thing he could empathize with Justin Bieber about—scary fangirls.

"Flip his hair? How?" Sakuno asked innocently, to which Ryoma gave her a look.

"I'm _not _going to flip my hair."

"Mou, show me!"

"Yadda."

"Please?"

"Yadda."

"Fine, then I'm not talking to you." Sakuno scoffed and turned her head away sharply, nose in the air; she let go of his hand and ran a few steps ahead of him. Ryoma raised an eyebrow.

"Sakuno?"

No response.

"Sakuno."

Still no response. She crossed the street, not waiting for him. He smirked.

"Baka, the concert's that way." He pointed to his left, forcing her to turn around and look at him.

She blushed but tried her best to look dignified. "I...I knew that!" She turned sprinted across the street, stopping at the other side. "Now which way do I go?"

"Like I would tell you," Ryoma replied with a grin. "I guess I'm going to have to go by myself." he smirked and ran ahead of her.

"No!" he heard her yell from behind and suddenly found her standing right by him and grabbing his hand again. "No, don't go there without me, Ryoma..." she begged.

_Still so gullible._ "Mada mada da ne, Wobbly Hips." he replied, still smirking.

"You're so mean to me! And I do _not _wobble anymore!"

"Hn." he grinned.

They walked for a few minutes in silence, when Sakuno's cell phone suddenly rang.

"Sakuno, pick up the phone! Sakuno, pick up the phone!" her phone screamed.

Ryoma blinked. _What the hell?_

"Oh, god," Sakuno sighed. "It's Tomo-chan. She has this weird habit of calling at the at the most awkward times. I'll call her back later."

"Ne, do you have a different ringtone for each person?" he asked her.

"Yeah, why?"

"What's mine?"

"Call my phone and find out," Sakuno said with a mischievous smile on her face.

Ryoma, pushed by curiosity, dialed her number. A few seconds later, Sakuno's phone spoke again.

"Mada mada da ne. Mada mada da ne. Mada mada da ne."

Ryoma sweatdropped. "So let me guess…Momo-senpai's is 'Don!" and Tezuka-buchou's is 'Yu dan sezu ikou,' and Atobe's is 'ORE-SAMA is calling!'?"

Sakuno giggled. "Two out of three. Not bad. I don't actually have Atobe-san on my phone, or it probably would be that."

"How do you even have this recording of my voice?" he asked warily.

_Well, you only say it about a hundred times a day._ "A notebook isn't the only thing Inui-senpai uses to collect data." Sakuno replied with a smile.

"Hn." Ryoma made a mental note to think long and hard before uttering another word in practice. "We're here."

"Oh! That was fast. We aren't late, are we?"

"Nope, right on time. Let's go in." He swiftly pulled her through the _huge_ crowd that was waiting outside the ticket booth, handed the tickets to the guy in there, and pulled her inside the concert hall.

"Ryoma, I still can't believe we're going to see Fujita Maiko, _live!_" Sakuno beamed at him.

He smiled slightly. "Wait till you find out where our seats are."

"Huh?" Ryoma smirked at her confusion as he pulled her over to the front row and pointed to two seats which had, "Reserved for: Ryuzaki Sakuno" and one with his name on it.

Sakuno's jaw dropped. "_Reserved _front row seats? Kami-sama…Ryoma, this is incredible!" She threw her arms around him in joy.

"I know." A few seconds later, he pulled away. "Wait here, I'll go get some Ponta."

"No, you've done more than enough for me," Sakuno said. "I'll go get the drinks. And I'm paying for our next three dates."

"Nah, you don't have to."

"Yes, I do! I should actually pay for every single date we have from now on, but you wouldn't let me."

"I actually wouldn't mind taking you up on that offer," he smirked.

"Mou!" she tossed her head and ran over to where the Ponta and the snacks were sold.

Ryoma chuckled and sat down as he waited for Sakuno to come back.

* * *

"One grape and one strawberry Ponta, two orders of pocky sticks, two orders of takoyaki, and two taiyakis, please." Sakuno told the guy at the snack bar.

"Sure, your total is 2000 yen." he replied and took a few minutes to get what she ordered. He handed them to her; she paid, picked up the tray with all the food on it, and walked back to the concert hall, found her seat next to Ryoma, and sat down. He eyed the tray with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey, I asked you to get Ponta, not Thanksgiving dinner." he smirked.

"I thought you'd want ice cream." she replied, smiling as she gave him a taiyaki. "Besides, don't I owe you?"

"Right, so from now on you agree to be my personal slave."

"I never agreed to that!"

"Uh, you owe me."

"Mou! Fine, I owe you, but I'm not going to be your slave, that's exploitation."

"Hn. Anyway, why didn't you join the choir at school? You could easily get the lead," he asked.

"Don't exaggerate!" She blushed and smacked him lightly.

"Che. But why didn't you join choir?"

"Well, that would mean that I would have to quit tennis." she said.

"Why'd you choose tennis, then?"

"Oh, th-that. Ano…" Sakuno blushed. How in the world could she tell him that he was the reason she joined tennis? She replied with the first lie that came into her head. "O-obaa-chan…w-wanted me t-to…"

Ryoma rolled his eyes. "Mada mada da ne. You are _such_ a bad liar. What's the real reason?"

Sakuno was thankfully saved from answering by the announcer. "Ladies and gentlemen! Please put your hands together for the one and only…drumroll please…FUJITA MAIKO!"

Ryoma repeated his eye-rolling, but couldn't help smirking. "I'm _not_ letting you go without answering this question."

"Shh, the concert's about to start." Sakuno smiled, relieved from having to answer the most embarrassing question in her life.

The opening bars of "Suki ni Naru to Doushite" began playing, and Fujita Maiko made her grand appearance onto the stage and began to work her magic.

_Honki no koi nante _

_Shinai to omotteta _

_Boku no naka de nanika ga kawatta _

_Atsui asa_

_Kimi ni chikazuku kage _

_Reisei de itai _

_Kanjou to wa urahara ni _

_Iradachi ga yogitta_

Sakuno closed her eyes, letting the music wash over her. It was amazing, Fujita Maiko's music…_it's the only thing in the world that could possibly be perfect! _she thought happily. Unconsciously, she began singing along.

Ryoma glanced at his girlfriend out of the corner of his eyes. Hearing her voice, he turned and noticed the effect the music had on her, and how it seemed to calm her. Her face had a serene look on it, except for the genuine smile playing on her lips, almost as if she was in a trance, but not quite. It looked…rather angelic.

At the roar of applause at the song's end, Sakuno opened her eye, feeling someone's gaze on her. She turned to Ryoma, who was still staring at her. "Ryoma? Is something wrong?"

He turned away and let go of her hand to pull his cap down and hide the splash of pink across his cheekbones. "Betsuni. You were singing too."

"Oh…was I? I didn't realize…sorry, I'll stop…"

"No. Keep singing." he smiled slightly at her (only _very _slightly), and Sakuno knew that this was his way of saying that he liked it.

"Okay." she smiled shyly.

* * *

Fujita Maiko went on to sing, "Unmei no Hito", "Koi ni Ochite", "Kimi ga Yobu no Nara", "Wasurenaide", "Hotaru", "Tadaima", "Hanabi", and several other songs, to which Sakuno knew all the lyrics. Yup, Fujita Maiko really was her favorite artist.

A few hours and several songs later, it would be an understatement to say that she and Ryoma were in the best of spirits. Fujita Maiko's music is, after all, that amazing.

When she finally ended her last song, Sakuno sighed. "I wish I could relive this evening over and over and over again…" she said dreamily.

Ryoma smirked. "No, you'd get bored listening to the same songs over and over and over again."

"I would never get bored of Fujita Maiko!"

"Hn. Anyway, want to go see her?"

"...you're kidding."

"Nope." He held out two backstage passes.

"I...I can't believe it..." Sakuno stuttered. _Backstage passes? Wow...(mentally falls to the ground, anime-style)... _"Kami-sama, please don't let this be a dream…"

Ryoma smirked. She was so funny with her cute overreactions. "Slap yourself in the face to wake up. Or if you'd rather I do the honors…"

"Mou! No, I'm fine. Let's go see her!"

They both joined the _very_ long line behind the stage. Sakuno gasped when she saw how long it was, but her excitement took over her dread of having to wait. _I'm going to see Fujita Maiko and...talk to her! Oh my god! _

When they finally walked in after a group of crazed fanboys (much to Ryoma's amusement), they saw _the _Fujita Maiko, face to face.

"Hello, you two! What are your names?" Fujita Maiko asked them with a smile.

"R-Ryuzaki Sakuno desu." Sakuno replied, bowing, trying to hide her growing excitement and awe. Fujita Maiko smiled at her and turned to Ryoma.

"Echizen Ryoma." he also bowed, but being Ryoma, he kept his stoic face.

"I hope you guys liked the concert!" she grinned, to which Sakuno returned a radiant smile.

"I loved it! And you have an amazing vocal range!" Sakuno said excitedly, and then blushed at the smirk Ryoma gave her. _Amazing vocal range? Really, you're telling that to a professional?_

"Oh, thank you. You sing too?" Fujita Maiko asked, not minding at all.

"Yeah, a bit—"

"Yes, she does." Ryoma cut her off, and smirked again at the frown Sakuno gave him.

"May I have an autograph, please?" she asked shyly.

"Sure! Where do you want me to sign?"

"Ano…" Sakuno rummaged in her purse to look for any pieces of paper, but couldn't find anything. Pulling out a Sharpie, she turned her shoulder to the famous singer. "On my shirt?"

"Sure!" Fujita Maiko took the Sharpie and wrote something on Sakuno's sleeve. Ryoma noted Sakuno's beaming face and tugged his cap down to hide his slight smile.

"You want one too?" she asked Ryoma.

"Sure." He pulled a tennis ball out of his pocket, and Fujita Maiko signed it.

"Thank you both for coming! And thanks for not jumping on me like the previous group." she shuddered. Ryoma smirked, but couldn't help agreeing with her fear of fans (girls in his case).

"Domo arigato for the autographs! Bai bai!" Sakuno waved enthusiastically, and Ryoma pulled her out of the backstage area.

"She's so amazing…" Sakuno sighed, and Ryoma grinned.

"I guessed you'd have this reaction. We should go, it's past dinnertime." he remarked, which meant that he was hungry too.

"OK, where do you want to go?"

"I'm in the mood for sushi."

"Aren't you always?" Sakuno smiled.

"Hn."

"Kawamura-senpai's shop it is, then."

"Hn."

_Again with the monosyllabic replies…_Sakuno mentally rolled her eyes. "OK. Anyway, what did Fujita Maiko write on my shirt?"

Ryoma looked at the writing on her shoulder. "It says, 'Dear Sakuno, Keep singing! From Fujita Maiko.' Lucky. She just signed mine."

"But at least yours will be permanent. I'm already scared as to what will happen when I wash this shirt." Sakuno grimaced.

"I guess."

As they walked, Ryoma remembered something. He turned to his girlfriend with a smirk. "So, now do you want to tell me why you chose tennis over music?"

"N-no, not really."

"As my personal slave, you have to answer my question."

Sakuno pursed her lips at first, but then grinned as she thought of a witty reply. "Ask no questions and I'll tell you no lies."

_Oh, man..._Ryoma groaned. "When did you get so smart?"

"What's that supposed to mean!"

"Mada mada da ne. Come on, we're here."

"Wow, that was fast!" Sakuno followed him into the restaurant. Kawamura politely greeted them both and showed them to a quiet table in the corner. Giving them each a menu, he bowed and left them alone.

"Anyway, I took you to the concert, so you have to tell me why you chose tennis over music." Ryoma smirked.

"I'm not telling you!"

"You're my slave, remember?"

"I'm not your slave! And put your wallet away, I'm paying."

"Fine, fine. So how about we make a deal?"

"Deal?"

"Yup. You tell me why you joined tennis, and I'll give you something you want in return."

"Anything I want?" Sakuno smiled a little sneakily.

"Exactly what do you have in mind?" Ryoma asked suspiciously.

"I want you to flip your hair like that Just a Beaver guy."

_Just a Beaver?_ Ryoma sweatdropped and turned red. "You've gotten too smart. Fine, it's a deal. But not here in front of everyone."

"Ryoma, no one's even looking at us."

"Che." Taking a deep breath, he took off his cap and flipped his hair, to which Sakuno laughed. "Happy now?"

"Kawaii!" she clapped her hands. Ryoma scowled, but Sakuno just laughed. "But now let's compare it to the real thing."

_What?_ Ryoma stared as Sakuno pulled out her iPhone and went to YouTube, looking up his hair flip. "What's his name again?"

"Justin Bieber, not Just a Beaver."

"Right." She typed in his name and watched the video. "Ryoma's hair flip is better!" she grinned.

"Che." he put his cap back on. "Now, tell me why you joined tennis."

"…"

"We had a deal."

"Mou, fine." Now it was her turn to take a deep breath. "I started playing tennis to…get a guy to notice me."

"Really?" Ryoma stared, a little jealous. "Who was it? Do I know him?"

Sakuno sweatdropped. _And people say _I'm_ dense..._ "Yeah...I think you do..."

"Who was it?"

"Ano...he's pretty a-arrogant and usually ignores everyone, but he can be very s-sweet, too."

"Does that guy like you now?" _Must find out so I can go pummel him…_

"I…I guess so…"

"You _guess _so? How do you know he does? Has he been stalking you?"

"N-no..."

"Then how do you know?"

Sakuno looked away, her face turning crimson. "Ano...I'm his girlfriend."

_Hold on...what?_ Ryoma stared. _Wait a minute, the idiot is _me?

"So wait…you're saying…you started playing tennis to get _my_ attention?"

Sakuno hid her face in her hands and nodded. _If he weren't my boyfriend, this conversation would be even more embarrassing…_

He suddenly smirked. "Sakuno."

She looked at him through her fingers. "H-hai?"

"Did you just say that you think I'm arrogant?"

Sakuno realized her mistake. "M-maybe."

He decided that it was time to relieve the awkwardness. "If you want to know, I think your hair is still too long."

"Mou!" she sounded exasperated, but couldn't help smiling a little.

"But…you actually do like tennis now, right?" he asked, feeling a little guilty.

"Absolutely!" she smiled. "Thank you so much for introducing me to tennis, Ryoma. It's one of the best things that ever happened to me. I get now why you love it so much!"

He managed to let out a small smile. "That's good."

Kawamura finally arrived with their orders. When he saw both of their red faces, he asked hesitantly, "Am I interrupting something?"

"N-no! Thank you, Kawamura-senpai." Sakuno smiled at him sweetly as he bowed and went back to his work.

* * *

"Ryoma, I feel a bit cheated." Sakuno remarked as they were walking to her house.

"Cheated? Why?"

"I told you one of the biggest secrets of my life, and all you did was flip your hair."

"..."

"...On a complete side note, it was almost as bad as Atobe-san's..." Sakuno added cheekily.

"Che. It was stupid and awkward. I'm never doing it again." Ryoma replied, grimacing. _I still cannot believe I did that just to get compared to the Monkey King…_

"Fine, but tell me what you blackmailed your father about!"

"Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of blackmailing?" Ryoma raised an eyebrow. "Besides, you never told me about your singing. I even never knew you could sing until I heard you."

"Well, how exactly do I put that in a conversation? Do I say, 'Ohayou, Ryoma-kun. Yes, your regulars' jacket looks really nice on you...by the way, I can sing'?"

Ryoma scowled, "I've never asked you how my jacket looks on me." to which she smiled.

"But I won't tell anyone about what your dad did. Please?" Sakuno looked at him with puppy-dog eyes.

He rolled his eyes. "Fine. But you have to sing for me later."

She got nervous again (big surprise). "S-sing? Why?"

"Baka, because I want to hear you sing. Mada mada da ne."

"F-fine. What do you want to hear?"

"Anything. You pick." he shrugged.

"All…all right," Sakuno agreed, albeit a bit hesitantly. "Now tell me what your otousan did."

"I got a video of him watching reruns of perverted TV shows, and he promised to give me anything if I wouldn't tell Kaa-san. So I asked for money for the concert tickets."

Sakuno sweatdropped. "Wait…your dad watches perverted TV shows?"

"Stupid oyaji always reads and watches perverted stuff. Nanako keeps threatening to tell Okaa-san, but she never does."

"Isn't your otousan the person you want to beat in tennis?"

"Hn."

"He must be really good if he can beat Ryoma…" Sakuno said thoughtfully. "But you'll beat him someday, I know you will." She smiled shyly again.

Ryoma tugged down his cap to hide his blush. "Thanks."

_Wow. _It was one of the few times Ryoma thanked her, even rarer than when he smiled or laughed, which he seemed to do more often nowadays, for some reason. But an expression of gratitude? Rarer than diamonds. Deciding to treasure the moment, she flushed prettily. "Y-you're welcome."

When they finally reached her house, she turned and gave Ryoma a radiant smile. "Thank you so much, Ryoma. This day could not have been any better."

"Betsuni." For some reason, however, he took a step closer to her.

"R-ryoma…are you okay?" She tried to move back, but the look in his eyes froze her to the spot.

"Don't move." he whispered.

_What's he doing?_ Sakuno's heartbeat quickened exponentially at his close proximity, and she felt like it was about to explode when he slowly lifted his hand, tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, and gently tilted her head to her right. She closed her eyes as he slowly leaned down.

And when his lips finally met hers, all rational thought was expelled from her mind. Responding instinctively, she unconsciously slid her arms around his neck and felt his arms wrap around her and pull her into his chest.

Neither of them could have asked for a more perfect first kiss.

When he finally broke away and looked into her eyes with an uncommon tenderness, she realized that her day had just gotten even better. _Way _better.

"Good night." He kissed her once more on the forehead.

"Ryoma-kun…" she whispered dreamily, a dazed smile on her face. He smirked and let go, prompting her to open the door to her house and run up to her room, much to the surprise of her grandmother.

"Sakuno, are you okay?"

"Never better…" she breathed as she changed and sunk into her bed. The smile on her face didn't disappear even after she fell into a dreamy slumber.

What happened to Ryoma, you ask? He fought a smile all the way home, and was in such a good mood that he even said good night to his father, much to the astonishment of the latter. (But when Nanjiroh asked him if "anything _nice_ happened," Ryoma yelled back something along the lines of, "Shut the hell up, you perverted old man!")

But when he finally got into his room and remembered what he was so happy about, he gave in to the smile he was fighting all that time, and that smile stayed on his face as he fell asleep.

They both had very sweet dreams that night.

And now, let's draw the curtain of privacy over the rest of their love life.

~~~THE END~~~


End file.
